Run Ins: When Reality Meets Insanity
by Lady Seren Dark Bunny Hope
Summary: At first, there was two. Two fanfction authors who became friends. But now they're having more wacky adventures and with more characters; when will the insanity end!
1. Dara, Kimberley and the Puddle Jumper

**Note:** Normally, I would put "Author's Note", but I'm not really the author of this story. This was actually all done by the love able SerenBunny. Maybe if I feel like it (actually come up with a really good idea), I'll write the next chapter/sequel. I would also like to point out, I do not have a crush on anything to do with John, but hey, it makes for good story writing.

**Note 2:** This is SerenBunny, I would like to point our three things: 1) I know that there are plot holes (huge gaping ones non the less) but that is because of 2) this was made for Lady Dark Hope as a sorry gift and was written in the space of two hours and 3) just love teasin' ya girly!

**Note 3:** This has (finally) began to be edited. It might take a while, but we will be fixing hte mistakes/plot holes and OCCness that is abound. That being said, please continue to read and review (critique is encouraged!)

Now, on to the story!

* * *

"Are you sure you should be touching that, John?" Carson asked, fixing his tight BDUs as he, John, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon sat in the Puddle Jumper.

"Yeah, sure Doc, done it a million times," John reassures him.

"Correction _you've_ done it a million times. Us normal non gene carriers, not so much," Rodney says with a glower.

"Where are we going again?" Ronon interrupted, looking to John and then Carson, for an answer as he leaned back casually on the wall.

"We're going to test this jumpers hyperspace capabilities wit the device from the ancient suppository." Rodney sighs once again. 'For the millionth time, Conan!'

"Aye, well, what the bloody hell am I here fur, then? You don't need me unless... You don't plan on getting hurt, do you?" Carson asked with worry.

"Hey, we don't plan on getting hurt," John replied, and double checked the monitors, before nodding to Rodney. "It just happens that way. And you're with us, Carson, because Elizabeth would worry too much if we went alone while testing the device." Without even waiting for a reply, John calmly says, "Start her up McKay."

"Never a 'please', never a 'thank you'," said the genius man, scowling. He begins to press the buttons on the ships upper belly, glancing at his data pad occasionally. "This device should enable us to travel between the two galaxies and arrive at a gate that is within an hours travel of Earth."

After a second or two a hyperspace window opens up and the Puddle Jumper shoot right in. In a total of five seconds, Rodney manages to fall backwards on to his butt. Teyla goes over and helps him up.

"What is happening?" She asks as the puddle jumper falls out of hyperspace in front of a large planet. Teyla glanced around the HUD and frowned at the space debris littered around the planet.

"Wow." John breathed and looked to the open space in front of him. "It's it's-."

"Home," Rodney gasped, stepping forward to press the glass in front of him, thinking it was an illusion. "We did it. We've done it! WE'RE HOME! WAHOO!"

"But how did we get to Earth with only one jump? I thought the device could only be extended so far before it was destroyed- Rodney!" Teyla ended as sparks began to fly from one of the consoles.

"This is the United States Air Force. Identify yourself. You are entering  
protected air space," The radio buzzed.

"This is Major John Sheppard, of the Atlantis expedition, requesting immediate back up and longitude and latitude, to land," John replied and began to struggle with the controls.

"This is NASA. There are no ships outside Earth with this command. We have no knowledge of who you claim to be. Stay where you are and Shuttle One will arrive there momentarily. I repeat, stay where you are or you will be fired out of the sky."

Rodney and John exchanged looks, just before John replied. "We're sinking like a stone here! Losing altitude! The power is going out and we need a place to land!"

o0o

Elsewhere, or directly underneath, a young woman of 24 sat on a deck chair overlooking the great Atlantic Ocean with her friend, a young 19 year old.

"Ya know, Dara, this was a great idea," The larger of the two girls, also the youngest, commented as she slipped her shades above her eyes.

"Yeah, I know, Kimberley. Could life get any better than this?" Dara replied with a question. She sipped at her still water, settled it back on the table between the two of them, then sighed in content as the sun shined down on them. "Shame about the Stargate convention."

But, like all peace, it must end.

"Hey! What's with the shadow?" Dara asked as she was looking up into the sky. Kimberley brought out a pair of binoculars from her bag. "Wow! You do pack everything, don't cha?"

"Everything but the kitchen sink. Hey, does that look like a ship, or a... I dunno. It looks familiar though," Kimberley says and hands the binoculars over to the older girl.

"Yeah, it looks like a... No! It can't be?" Dara gasped and both girls jumped up. "It looks like a Puddle Jumper!"

Both girls watched in morbid fascination, as the ship turned from a speck, then into a blob, just before alarmingly it started to take shape as it powered towards them.

"Oh my god! It's going to crash!" Kimberley exclaimed and grabbed Dara, hauling her to safety. Within minutes, the ship was almost on Earth.

o0o

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Rodney screamed as he hugged the back of Carson's chair.

John shared a sparing glance at Ronon, who grabbed McKay by his shoulder and applied pressure, the scientist calming down for fear of Ronon moving the wrong way.

"Doc, I'm gonna need you to help over here!" John ordered. "You've got just as strong an ancient gene as me, with the two of us it'll stop quicker."

"What the bloody hell can I do? I'm a doctor, not a bloody fighter pilot!" Carson exclaimed, moving over to help regardless.

"Just think about slowing us down Carson," Teylas says, placing a calming hand on his shoulder.

o0o

Suddenly the ship stopped moving as fast, then hovered above the ground before dropping like a stone. The two girls stared at the ship. Kimberley carefully reaches over to touch the ship.

"Don't do that!" Dara exclaimed and slaps Kimberleys hand. "It just fell from the sky, it's got to be hot!"

"Sorry, brains on vacation, too," she replies to her writing buddy.

"Eh well, after your year it's okay but please, don't have everyone thinking I'm a murderer or something, just because you go yourself hurt!" Dara reprimanded her before grinning. "Who do you think is in there?"

"Why don't we find out?" Kimberley asked, a cheeky smile on her face.

"Oh! I have an idea!" Dara interjected, a grin forming on her face.

"Don't you always?" Her friend replied.

Picking up a sturdy pair of sticks, she hands one to her bemused friend, before whacking it on the door panel. "Knock, Knock!"

o0o

Everyone stopped moving when they heard the back door being hit with what sounded like a weapon.

"Everyone ready?" John asks.

Carson sat with a handgun, as John slowly came up beside Rodney. Ronon pulled his gun from its holster and aimed it at the door, while Teyla stood in a fighting position.

John nodded and opened the door, revealing two armed human girls. Both had brown hair, the taller one looking about 16, while the rounder girl looked about 20. The younger looking one was wearing a brown skirt and a tube top and the older looking one had on a white gypsy skirt with a long sleeved white top. Both were bare footed and standing in the grass, with a large stick hanging lifelessly from their hands. Without a word being mentioned, the girls turned to each other and pinched themselves.

"Ow." Kimberley winced and Dara nodded. "You think?"

"Has to be, I mean."

"What about that casa thingy?"

"You mean the Cascade failure? Why do you always forget that?"

"Hey! You're American? And Scottish?" Rodney tried to interrupt from behind their discussion.

"Great if-it is! I wonder which season?" The smaller girl continued, nonplussed with the warriors looking at them. "Well chickas still here, so not four?"

"And no pick up truck, so it's not one, must be two."

"Why are we talking in code?"

"Seems like a good idea." The younger looking one shrugged. "Hi, I'm Dara and this is Kimberley. And you are?"

John nodded to her with a smile. "Major John Sheppard, Weapons Specialist Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Doctor Rodney McKay, and..."

"CARSON BECKETT!" The older looking one, Kimberley, exclaimed.

Dara grabbed Kimberley by the shoulders and said, "Do. Not. Glomp."

Kimberley nodded and Dara let her go. Kimberley slumped along the wall to the floor. "Ohmygod."

"Are you all right?" Carson asked, a little scared that they knew who they were (well him anyways) but ignored it as she remained slumped down on the ground.

"Oh yeah, meeting the man of my dreams-I did not just say that out loud!" Kimberleys eyes jumped to the size of dinner plates.

"Hey, Kim. Want your foot?" Dara grinned, then laughed out loud as Kimberley nodded.

"Excuse me but can someone please explain how the hell we ended up on Earth instead of a few gates away and why NASA didn't recognise Sheppard?" Rodney asked, annoyed that everyone forgot about him.

"Wait, you mean you aren't actors?" Dara asked, her brilliant brain was busting a move to figure this out. "And you just came from Atlantis?"

"Well, MP4-5G3 to be precise." Rodney replied.

"Okay, you know about Alternate Realities and that?" Dara continued and motioned for the scientist and waited for Rodney to nod. "I think you're in one."

Rodneys eyes widened while John stlumped on the spot with a sigh. Ronon looked t Teyla and shrugged his 'what the hell are we in now?' shrug.

"What do you think is broken?" Kimberley asked, her face slowly returning to normal color, as Carson helped her to stand up. "Ya know, they could just reverse it..."

"They might chance blowing themselves up," Dara replied as she moved to sit down to think.

"Actually we were given instructions to come here. Now, I know, this might sound strange, but..." John trailed off, looking for someone else to explain it.

"There was a message with the device telling us to come here for a ZPM," Ronon replied casually.

"Wait, what?" Carson looked between them. "I didn't know about this!"

"It was with the device. There was a coded email addressed to us." Rodney explained with a sigh of exasperation.

"Don't you find that a little bit suspicious? Dara asked them. "Who would leave you a note to something that would bring you here?"

"We traced the email; it came through the gate when a solar flare occurred." Rodney revealed.

"So it came from the past? Or future?" Dara drowned.

Kelly frowned. "We don't have any-"

"Working ZedPMs, we know. It's the plans that we need," Rodney interrupted her. "You see, in the SGC, O'Neill's plans were destroyed by him after he built the first one, but if we get a hold of the plans we might be able to make a new one with a completely different power source."

"And since the basic functions of Atlantis run with adapted Naquardia power outlets, you can use them as a base line!" Dara snapped her fingers and grinned, then it fell. "But we'd need to get a hold of the company for that, and erm..."

"What do you mean we?" John asked, his eyebrows disappearing above his hair.

"Hey you got us into this thing!" Dara replied uncharacteristically. "We can help-you don't know this world, plus we can stop you from getting glomped."

"Glomped? Tortured?" Ronon asked, interest peaked.

"She means what I was going to do to Doctor Beckett," Kimberley replied politely, as her pulse was being checked again by the dishy doctor. "But, wasn't that episode script sold on eBay recently?"

"And the plans too! Isn't that a bit of a coinkidink?" Dara asked, her eyebrows disappearing too.

o0o

Sitting in Dara and Kimberleys hotel room, the Atlantis crew waited for the girls to find some information.

"I still don't get why they won't let me near their computers," Rodney sulked.

Carson laughed. "Ach, don't feel bad, Rodney. They're, well... Kimberley is no letting me near hers and Dara already told you why."

"But, I wouldn't destroy it!" He cried out.

"Okay, found it!" Dara and Kimberley announced in sync.

"Name is Joe Comprse. Hey! He lives two blocks from my house!" Dara exclaims in shock. "He always said the show was gay…"

o0o

A short time later John, Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Carson, Kimberley, and Dara sat in the Puddle Jumper, trying to figure out a plan.

"I'll go in first, asking to see his latest acquisition," Dara began.

"And if that does not work, I will try to distract him." Teyla smiled evilly.

"And if that doesn't work, we can sic Ronon on him? NO OFFENCE!" Kimberley exclaimed as Ronon grinned at her.

"None taken," He replied, then changed his positing to lean closer to her. "So, when are you going to tell, the Doc, you like him?"

Kimberleys brain ceased to function. Her face turned red, then blue.

"Dammit! Not again!" Dara cursed and walked over to her.

"Again? What happened?" Carson asked as he entered from the front of the ship.

"She was like this when we first bumped into Paul McGillion and he told her that he had read her fic. She laughed, then exclaimed 'What', then stopped breathing," Dara said as she sighed.

"Anyone know CPR?" Rodney asked, his concern growing. 'They can't do our bidding if they're unconscious!'

"I have a better way," Dara grinned. "OH MY GOD! CARSON IN HIS BIRTHDAY SUIT!"

"Oh My GOD! GIVE ME THE CAMERA! WHERE?" Kimberley shot up. "DARA! That's nasty!"

Said girl, continued to cackle.

Carson began to blush and was saved from teasing when John's voice called out, "We're almost there."

"Oh guys, I have an exclamation!" Kimberley 'ohed'.

"Epiphany," Dara muttered under her breath, connection made between her and Hook.

"Why don't you guys just go in and ask for it, as it's needed for a new script, but he can have..." She trailed off, looking around the ship. "This emergency back pack instead!"

"Or they could sign everything?" Dara amended. "But you need to remember to sign it your actors names. When we get to the house I'll show you a picture of what it should look like, I don't think he will notice quickly."

The others agreed to that idea.

o0o

A while later, the group, except for Rodney, leaves the Puddle Jumper and make their way towards the front door of Joe's house. They rang the door bell, hoping someone was home.

Joe Comprse opened his door in shock. "JoeJasonPaulRachel... Brain fart." He then fainted.

"Well, that was easy," John replied, then both he and Ronon picked up the unconscious teenager, before dragging and depositing him on the couch.

Dara and John took the upstairs of the two stories, with Teyla and Ronon looking around the rest of the house, leaving Kimberley and Carson to stay with the unconscious Stargate fan.

o0o

Kimberley kept her eyes anywhere but Carson as he tried to make Joe more comfortable.

"So..." she spoke, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "Read any good books?"

"In Atlantis? Only the survival guide." He laughed as she gawked.

"That's for real?"

Carson nodded and sat next to her on the love seat. "So, tell me about yourself."

"Uh well, I'm from Glasgow, in Scotland uh, obviously! I'm 19 and erm, study psychology…" Kimberley began to do so, easing into the conversation and slowly returning her face to normal color.

o0o

"So, how'd you meet Kimberley?" John asked, sweeping through the room, as Dara investigated the insides, looking for the package.

"On the net. Not like that!" She rolled her eyes as his cut to look at her in shock. "She wrote a fic about saving characters, that she felt was needed. I was one of her most often reviewers, then I began writing my own fic and she became a friend over e-mails. We've wrote a few things together. Pain in the ass to get stuff from, but generally nice girl."

With an exclamation, Dara fell from sight and John whirled around. He jumped over the bed to help. While trying to help her up he fell, bumping their heads together.

"Ow," Dara moaned from her spot on the floor. "But hey, progress!"

John looked over her chest, past her extended arm and grinned. There, underneath Joe's bed, was all his Stargate stuff and a box marked 'scripts'.

o0o

"...talked for a few months. She gets my insanity levels, and Dara is a really cool person to talk with. Her writing is THE best thing ever, and she keeps you guys more in character than I did, but I suppose that's 'cause she is way smarter than me." Kimberley finished, and her eyes showed that she didn't want a round of 'Oh I know your probably just as smart...' She knew the truth though. Her friend was much better at her style of writing.

Silence, once again, reigned over them.

"So, what do you guys plan on doing when you get the script?" Kimberley asked, playing with her fingers and then cracking them.

"Fix the... Stop that!" Carson demanded. "Do you know the damage you're doing to your cartilage?"

Kimberley's face turned red and she stammered out an apology.

o0o

"Uh, can you move your legs?" Dara demanded. John apologised as he rolled away from her.

John bent down and helped her up. "So, why were you guys on holiday?"

"We were going to be going to the convention, but after she got a shadow medic stuck on her it wasn't as fun, so we decided to catch some rays. Then you all showed up." Dara continued and began to rummage through the box.

Not being able to take the silence, John begins to ask, "How are you and she..."

"-friends? Yeah, if we bumped into each other in the street normally, we'd freak each other out, but because we connected on the net we just clicked," she finished, still flipping through the box. "Boy, this dude is whack."

John raised his eyebrow. "And you guys just met up? Didn't you think she'd be..."

"Look Sheppard, you just can't make up that insanity," she cuts him off, completely serious. Without warning she says, "'The Fifth Race script', complete with ZPM sketches, check."

John knew he made her mad, so instead of making things worse, he nodded and took point.

Ronon waved him down and Teyla kept Dara quiet as the neared the living room door.

'What?' Dara mouthed.

Teyla nodded her head towards the room, where Carson and Kimberley were looking into each other's eyes. It was then that a groan alerted them to the fact that Joe was waking.

Carson checked to see that he didn't have a concussion, before the Atlantis group signed one of the other scripts that Dara had grabbed. After a few minutes they left the house, to return to the clearing and the puddle jumper.

o0o

Rodney glared at the screen in front of him. "Stay with the stupid ship, Rodney. Stupid Sheppard. Being stupid like, stupid Kirk. Falling for two stupid girls."

Glancing around the ship, he ran another diagnostic on the ship. "Great! The device is fried! We're stuck here!" Rodney then looks outside, then screams out in alarm.

Two dozen armed to the teeth soldiers were marching towards the general area where the Jumper was sitting, while the gang were in the opposite direction, taking their sweet time about getting there.

'Glad the radios still work on this frequency!' Rodney thought as he activated his ear piece. "Sheppard? We've got company!"

Quickening their pace, the group ran into the back of the ship as Rodney opened it. Rodney then let John take over the controls so he could fly them away from the advancing group.

"That was close!" John grinned. "So…we ready to go home?"

"Erm, remember to drop us off first?" Dara asked, grimacing as Kimberley elbowed her. "What? You want to go up against soul sucking vampires from space?"

"No, but still..." she trailed off. "Sorry."

"Actually, we can't leave. Not yet," Rodney admitted and everyone paused to look at him.

"Say what?" Dara demanded.

"See, it looks like this," Rodney says as he holds up the device, a small microchip encased in an Ancient crystal. "Any idea where we can-what am I saying?"

Rodney laughed to himself. "It's a piece of ancient technology! Of course there isn't anything like it here."

Kimberley pursed her lips and Dara looked at her. "Either you gotta go or you have an idea..."

"Where's my bag?" Kelly nodded.

John pointed above them and Ronon got it for her. Kelly say on the floor of the pubble jumper and then dumped the contents onto the floor, looking for something wordlessly.

"Where the bloody hell did you stash all that stuff?" Carson asked as the mounds of books, make up, money, technology, paper, pens, sweets, and cell phone came from the medium sized bag.

"Dunno, it just packs a lot of stuff," Kimberley replied as she pulled out her Nintendo DS and a mini screw driver.

A few minutes later, Dara clicked on to what she was doing. She grabs the PS3 from the pile, another tiny screw driver, and starts taking off the back.

Some minutes pass before Dara lets out a triumphant 'ahha!' and held out a small chip, exactly like the one Rodney had in his hand, minus the ancient casing. Dara held it back when he lunged for it.

"What do you wish to trade?" Teyla asked while Carson and John looked around for something to bribe the fan girls with.

"Hmmm, I have an idea." Kimberley grinned and pulled Dara over as she began whispering. A quick whack to the back of the head ended that hope. "Sorry."

"There's nothing on the ship that we can part with, including the personnel," Carson interrupted with a grimace. "Surely you couldn't just make do with our siggies?"

"Hey Kim, you still got that crush?" Dara grinned evilly, eyes twinkling.

"The same as you," she replied with a pointed look.

The nodded to each other, then called Teyla over. The guys tried leaned in, only turning away as the girls looked back. When Teyla turned to them, they looked ready for any request, except for what they wanted. Ten minutes later they landed on the ground. Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla stayed inside the ship as Kimberley and Carson stood on one side and John and Dara on the other.

o0o

Kimberley was looking at the ground and Carson hooked his thumbs into his pockets, both equally embarrassed.

"Sorry it's just, erm, that is," Kimberley stuttered and then leaned backwards on the ship. "Gah! I'm pure mega nervous man."

Carson mouth quirked in mirth. He stepped forward before pressing his lips to hers softly.

o0o

On the other side, Dara was standing with her arms crossed, while John was trying to keep the grin from his face.

"So are we gonna, uh, you know..." He trailed off.

"You do know that the only reason I agreed to this is because she wanted to 'snog' Carson, right?" Dara asked and stepped forward, butterflies swarming in her stomach. "God you are so much like Kirk. It's hilarious!"

"Yeah." He nodded and moved forward, intent on giving her a peck on the lips, not counting on the electricity that sparked between them.

o0o

After ten minutes, the back of the puddle jumper opened and a dishevelled John and Carson stepped into the ship, leaving behind two exhausted but grinning girls.

"Remind me to never annoy you about that bag," Dara mumbled to her as the ship got smaller in space.


	2. Len and the Zed PMs

A/N from Serenbunny: Once again I have promised a story to Highonstaragte (Quite some time ago but here it is!) The basics: Muses can be pains some times. I've tried to fill in the plot holes, made it longer than anticipated and I know there may be some problems with the dialoge and OOCness from myself, Dara and Len, and you will understand why the others may seem odd nearer the end. Please tell me what you thought, and hopefully we can pull Dara outfrom the woodworks! Oh and if someone can tell me what each girl gets from the story (items wise, and some of 'em get two!) I can write you into another story!

* * *

In three different locations, three different girls sat glaring at their computers, or more precisely, the blank word pad documents staring them in the face.

The youngest one, Kimberley from Scotland, closed her eyes, sighed, and then banged her head down on her table.

The middle child, Len from Québec, blinked lazily, trying to drone out the incessant screaming of her siblings as they carried on in the background.

The oldest woman, Dara from the good old U S of A, let her eyes flit from one screen to another, then another, whishing for some inspiration for the latest work of fiction.

At once the girls sighed, checked their clocks, shook their heads and checked their email.

"God I wish I had somethin' tae dae." Kimberley mumbled, glaring at the bright and shiny 2:48 AM.

Len scrunched her eyes up in order to not scream aloud. 'Will someone save me from this boredom?'

"Ah man." Dara grumbled. "This isn't fair...come on inspiration, hit me!"

All three, strangely, decided to turn off their computers and go for a nap, hoping it would recharge their batteries and let their muses flow.

o0o

Sometime later Len opened her eyes intent on shouting at her siblings when she stopped short.

'This isn't my room. No duh Len, you're walls aren't a drab yet futuristic grey...' She continued to babble into her mind before standing up and taking note of where she was.

o0o

Moments before this, Dara felt her back move from her comfy bed to a rough unused one, jerking her awake.

'What the-? Huh? Never mind, it's a dream.' She thought before turning over to get some sleep, jumping up at the person standing in front of her. "YOU!"

o0o

Even half an hour after arriving at her location Kimberley slept on, unaware and uncaring that she was somewhere that she had not fallen asleep originally.

o0o

Len jerked her head around a corner when she heard the exclaimed "YOU!" before turning back and slumping next to the wall. 'What is going on here? It looks like Atlantis, but, hello, not real?'

A gaggle of guards walked past her - from the opposite direction of the scream so they didn't see her - causing her to hitch her breath and pray no one spotted her.

o0o

Dara stared at the Ronon Dex look alike after shouting at him, then her eyes widened as she saw the rest of the first team behind him.

'Hmm, Carson Becket's here, so it's not that late in series three then.' She decided before thinking of what to do. 'Damn I'm in a cell. Right, prisoner who behaves then.' "I come in peace, take me to your leader?"

Ronon nodded to a guard on the left who opened her door, and then the one on the right shot her with a Zat.

'Damn.'

o0o

Kimberley finally woke up when her bladder started calling, stumbling ungracefully into a wall before finding the toilet.

Finishing up she paused as the flooring felt colder than normal, then opening her eyes and staring at the scene in front of her.

'I've flipped it. Lost it. Went nuts. Cooku. Funny Farm, resident equals me.' She thought, and then slapped her head. 'Okay, not dreaming, damn. Okay, where am I?'

The room that held a cot and several screens came to life, as well as the ear piece in her left ear.

"Ahh shit. Hallo?"

o0o

"Hallo?"

'What the-?' Len asked herself, letting the questioning voice distract her enough to walk into a plant, before her hand flew to her right ear. "Requesting radio silence?"

"Noted." The voice agreed, quieter this time.

"Hey, is anyone else out there?" A different voice, softer and younger, sung - actually sang! - in her ear and Len silently groaned.

"Keep it quiet, I'm in a sticky bit." She demanded and slowly back tracked to where she saw an empty room a few minutes before.

o0o

Dara looked sideways to the earpiece that came to life before humming a soft tune then singing, trying not to let the guards surrounding her with pointy heavy guns know that she was communicating with, someone.

"I can talk now." The second voice, with a slight accent, spoke once Dara was in a different, higher-powered cell.

The guards left the room to stand outside, so Dara turned herself around and pretended to go to sleep. "I'm in a cell."

"I'm in a computer room." The first voice, Scottish, added after a second's silence. "I'm Kimberley, by the way."

"Len." The accented voice added.

"Dara." She eventually added.

"Sorry if this sounds insane but..." The Scottish one drew a deep breath, preparing her. "Do you guys know a programme called Stargate?"

The silence on the radio was deafening as Dara sat in disbelief. "Yes. Wait, Kimberley, does the name SerenBunny mean anything to you?"

"Yeah it's my- wait, Dara, Lady Dark Hope? And Len, Musik lover?" She could practically hear her nod.

"It's high on Stargate now." Len admitted. "Let me get something straight. We're in the Stargate Universe? Three fan fiction writers? Who just happen to know each other?"

"It's either that or one of us is up at half two in the morning bored out of her tree." Dara half shrugged, joking. "But I don't think they're the real ones though."

"What? How can you tell?" Len asked, letting Kimberley echo her.

"I know the series that much I can predict their next movements. This lot are letting Ronon do all the grunt work and showing off too much, moving me from one cell to another. They Zat'ed me just after they opened my cell door, which makes me think-"

o0o

Len looked around as Dara paused. "Dara? You okay?"

A beat.

Then.

"Yeah, Teyla just came in with some water." All three girls sighed in relief.

"Don't take it!" Kimberley screeched, causing both girls to growl her name out. "Sorry. Bad guy 101, to drug you."

"Yeah, okay." Dara agreed. "But what I was going to say was that I think they're keeping me in the same room, but only knocked me out to _think_ I was being taken to a different room."

"Kimberley, you said you had computers in your room? Anything else, doors, printers, escape plans?" Len asked, moving to check out the door to make sure no one was outside it.

o0o

"Okay, I may be up to date with technology, but let's stick you in a room with Ancient tech and see you know what's what." Kimberley growled to herself, then apologised. "Sorry, but nothing labelled evil plans. I could search the computer, but do you think that's what they want?"

"Who are they anyway?" Len found herself asking.

"I'll find out soon enough, they're coming back for me. Dara out." Dara replied, and then her radio was silent.

'Hmm.' Kimberley thought, and then pushed a few buttons. "Len, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. What did you do?" The accusation hung in the air.

"How could you accuse me of-""Kimberley? It's you." "Okay, I think I made Daras' channel talk for her only, and kept our communication channel open."

"Seriously? Sweet! Can you figure out where we are?" Len asked, proud of the younger girl.

"Erm, walk around in a circle, I've got the base schematics up, but there are a lot of dots, but mainly stationary or walking like in a pattern." Kimberley asked, her mind focused on the many dots, face scrunching up in concentration. "Okay, now stay still. Stick your head out the door on your left, what do you see?"

o0o

"A corridor?" Len asked, unsure.

"Right, what's to your right?" Kimberley asked, and more typing could be heard.

"A corridor corner." She replied, more sure.

"Okay, there's a lone figure heading round that corridor I think, so if someone goes past you, I know where you are and how to get you to me."

"But what about Dara?"

"I've started a back trace on her ear piece; I should know soon where she is. Gosh this place is fun, I fell smart!"

Len rolled her eyes and smiled. "Get us out of here safe, and then celebrate."

"I take it the guard went past? Okay, got down the hall, then you'll see a door marked storage. Go in there. Trust me." Kimberley guided.

Heavenly light seemed to pour from the room. "Zee PM's? This room is full of Zee PM's!"

"Ssh! Grab one then move it, down the corridor and take a left. You should get to a weapons cache. Grab a few Zats, back pack, medical kit, knock out and tear gasses and whatever else you think worth it." She ordered.

o0o

Once getting Len to the door of her room Kimberley ushered her in, taking the Zed PM from her carefully.

"What do you plan on doing with it?" Len asked, before handing over a Zat gun.

"If I told you, the bad guys would figure it out." Kimberley grinned.

"Requesting talk, repeat, requesting talk. Guys, are you there?" Dara asked, starting them out of their thoughts.

Kimberley moved to a consol near the other end of the small room and typed in a few commands. "What's the report Dara?"

"I think it's the Asurians. Either them or the ancients." She replied with a tired wince.

"What makes you say that?"

o0o

"Because Kimberley, I have a headache the size of Missouri!" She snapped in reply.

"Yesh fine okay, we have a medic kit with us, stay where- where are you anyway? A cell or what?" Kimberley asked.

"Back in the second cell. Slightly higher upgrade, I can see the electricity bouncing off of the walls in here." Dara explained.

"Okay, I figured out how to use one of the touch pads that McKay usually jumps about with-""McKay doesn't 'jump about'." "Well sorr-e if I can't explain it any better." "Its official, you a female McKay." "Just don't jump me."

Dara raised her eyebrows and giggled at that. "Finally found out who your favourite is."

"Anyhoo! I've transferred the image from the main screen onto this, so I can track us, you Dara, and the people around us. I think I know where you are and we should get there in five minutes. And since I'm the female McKay, female Kirk, don't touch anything!" Kimberley mock raged in her ear, causing her to roll her eyes. "What does that make Len?"

o0o

Len and Kimberley looked at each other.

"You wanna be Ronon?" "I'll stick to being Teyla. If I have to be a guy, then Zelenka."

"Love the decisions guys but can we get a move on, I'd like to get home _before_ the next ice age." Dara gripped down the communication system.

"Great, who let her get into character?" Len muttered.

"Requesting radio silence Dara. We'll keep you posted." Kimberley shut off crossing communications.

o0o

A tense few minutes later, with one close call and a sneeze that filled the area, Kimberley and Len waited for the guards to change. Len nodded her head to a back entrance and Kimberley nodded. Seconds later, they were standing next to Dara and her cell. Kimberley pressed a few buttons on the data pad, turning off their communication.

"Nice to see you guys. Now; get me out of here!" Dara demanded as she stood up. "Please tell me you passed the bathrooms."

Len nodded as Kimberley looked around the cell. "What you looking for?"

"I, don't, know." She answered, taking her time to look carefully at it, before walking full circle and coming to the pulsing energy balance. "I'd do the rock test but then it's inanimate."

"What test-"the girls were cut off as Kimberley threw herself at the energy, making an 'eep' as she fell through the air. "What the hell are you doing!"

"You mean I could have walked out of here?" Dara asked gobsmacked, and then grimaced. "Right, move, a need the loo. Behind held captive isn't as fun as it looks."

The trio quickly left, following the stolen data pad. After getting to the safety of the toilets, freshening themselves up and Len checked Dara up; they started to make a plan.

"I'm thinking Tarzan." Kimberley smiled.

"Kim's, please, no riddles, make sense please." Dara asked, feeling the effects of the painkillers and laying her head on the cool surface of the wall.

Said berated girl bit her lip. "Let them capture us, or get to the gate room. I think I can get something set up so we'll have a quick gate away but I need an address; do either of you know the address for Atlantis? Or the SGC?"

Len snorted. "You have to ask? What do you want?"

Taking the data pad from her she drew the icons on a Paint programme, pausing only for a second to make sure it was correct. "Sorry the pictures are bad."

Dara and Kimberley looked over them.

"Hey it's better than what I would have come up with." They both agreed and Len grinned.

"Let's get this show on the road!"

o0o

Turning the radios back on in case they got lost or separated (most likely captured) the trio made their way round the base, following the little dots on the data pad. Turning round a corner Kimberley and Dara gasped as they came face to face with a dozen Zats held their way.

'Shoot.' Len thought as she caught up with them in time to see her friends fired upon and hit the deck, knocked out.

The data pad flew towards her and she picked it up before backing away from the group then high tailing it out of there.

o0o

With a groan, Kimberley woke up to see Dara still out cold beside her. Moving stiffly to the older woman she nudged her with her foot then bent down and shook her shoulders. "Dara, DARA! Wake up!"

Stifling a groan Dara sat up with her head in her hands. "Please tell me you have that Mary Poppins bag you talked about?"

"Not got the bag." Dara groaned. "But I do have stuffs in my pockets!" Dara cheered, the frowned as her head got sore. "But should you take them so soon after the last time?"

Dara looked over to her. "Just gimmie!"

There was a beat of silence.

"How are we getting out of here?" Dara asked, standing as Kimberley did so.

"Well, if it worked once." She replied, and then threw herself at the energy barrier, but this time ending up with a nice overall burn. "Ahhhahahahah!"

"Kimberley!" Dara screamed and stood over her slightly smoking but still breathing body. "Are you okay?"

Kimberley rolled her eyes to hers and glared. "Just peachy."

Dara sighed then helped her up slowly. "Don't do that again."

"Jeez and here was me wanting to make it into an Olympic sport." The youngest muttered to her. "Wait, where's Len?"

"You're brain got fried and now you think of the missing girl?" "Well sorr-e for forgetting when I was trying to get us out of here!"

Silence fell and the two turned away from each other, before turning back around, Kimberley speaking first. "How are we getting out of here?"

"What are you asking me for; you're the one with the plans!" Dara shot back.

Wincing Kimberley sat back down on the cold hard floor and thought. "If only Len had the data pad, then she could open the communication system and we could make a real plan, other than rush 'em."

"Test... Anyone hear me?" Len's voice filled their ears.

"LEN!" they both exclaimed. "Where are you?"

"In the air vent above you." She whispered and the two captives looked up. "Got it from your story Dara, where you crept along during the Storm?"

"Cool." Dara grinned. "Is there anyone outside just now?"

"Two guards." Len answered. "Hey Kim's, can you use the data pad to created a disturbance?"

Said girl shrugged, mumbling that she thought so before catching the data pad and pressing a few buttons, causing the sprinklers to turn on. "I turned the radios back on, use the button that looks like an F on the right hand side to turn our sound off, but it'll keep yours on."

Dara took the pad, and then passed it up. "Keep a lock on us and try to come up with a plan."

Len nodded and disappeared. Seconds later the sprinklers turned off and the fake first team made their way in.

"I don't know how you two did it, but you somehow managed to hack into our systems." Rodney McKay bereted them. "We just want to help you home."

"Then send us back the way we came." Dara demanded.

'Naked and screaming?' Len asked from further up the air ducks with a slight chuckle.

"We'd love to but we don't know how you got here." John Sheppard answered.

Teyla stood behind the group, impassively but with a slight twinkle in her eye. Ronon cracked his knuckles. "How about we let Ronon knock the answers outta you?"

Dara and Kimberley looked to each other when the sprinklers went off, again.

o0o

Len watched the majority of the dots disappear before she poked her head back down. "Psst, guys, c'mon, there's no one outside the hall; we can go out this way."

"Erm, Dara can, I can't." Kimberley shook her head. "One, I'm too big, two, I get claustrophobia if I even think we'll get lost in there. But it'll be enough of a distraction for me to get away."

Dara nodded in the sense of it before accepting the boost from Kimberley and kneeled on the air ducks. "What's with the timer on the data pad?"

"What's it at?" "12:45.""We've for just under thirteen minutes to get to the gate room. Len, do you still have the back pack?"

Asked girl nodded.

"Okay, go back to the room where the weapons are and plant some C4 in the Zed PM room. Set some timers for a few minutes then we'll meet up." Kimberley decided and nodded for them to go.

o0o

Dara moved forward with Len behind her, and not before long, their elbows were getting sore. "How much further?"

"Two clicks." Len grinned. "Sorry, this left, then the next right. Do you think it's a good idea to start blowing stuff up?"

"Are you kidding? Its what I dream of, blowing stuff up in the Atlantis world." Dara smiled and looked behind her as she took the last turning. "Got a screw driver?"

Len passed her the pointy object and glanced down at the computer. "We've got just over ten minutes."

Grinning Dara dropped from the air duck, grabbed the computer then helped Len down. "Which way mon Capitan?"

"Thatta way!" Len whispered.

A few seconds later they stood outside the second door Len visited, grabbed a few C4 blocks and timers, then walked back to where the ZPM storage door was.

Light bathed the two women, who looked slightly sorrowful and gleeful at the prospect of blowing up such powerful items.

Dara placed a few along the sides of the doorframe while Len arranged a few of them to put a few in the middle, then glanced at the data pad. "We've got a group of three coming round our six in about thirty seconds."

Quickly Len was in the air duck, followed closely by Dara and a few extra C4 blocks.

"Wonder how Kimberley's doing." Dara commented as they made their way towards the gate room where hopefully Kimberley was at.

o0o

"Hey Rocky! I wanna speak with Adrian! I want my phone call! Hello, bored chicka over here!" Kimberley stared calling out, getting ready for a good time. 'This better work.' "Ollie, Ollie oxen free, come on bad guys, ready to tell you what you want!" 'Bad guy 101, never believe a prisoner.' "Please, I just want to go home!" 'Especially if they say that just want to go home.'

Giggling insanely Kimberley walked around the cell, letting her hand brush along the bars.

Ronon stepped in, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.

'Finally!' Kimberley thought, then turned to him. "Take me to be interrogated, Conan!"

"Maybe we should just talk here?" He suggested.

"I think not. Who is in charge of this operation? Weir? Carter? Caldwell? Or did Baggins finally get the job?" She bluffed, wanting answers.

"Baggins. Right, come on then." He agreed and nodded to his right, letting the guard know to let the energy down.

Stifling a grin Kimberley walked sombrely up to him. "Let's get this show on the road."

o0o

"And she's on the move!" Len whispered, then pressed the F button to bring her earpiece on line. "Kimberley, what are you planning?"

o0o

Inside the conference room, the first team stood at attention as Carson stepped forward. "Now hen, we just want some answers."

"Okay." Kimberley agreed and something passed through their eyes. "The meaning of life is 42, my shoe size in not 12, my home world is not cube shape, there is more than one star in the sky, or only one if you apply the mirror theory-"

"QUIET!" Teyla burst out, shocking just about everyone. "I-I am sorry. Would you like something to drink?"

Kimberley looked at the water.

"Don't. Could be poisoned." Dara whispered to her.

"But why would they poison her if they want answers?" Len whispered back.

"Maybe they have the antidote." Dara replied.

"It's all dependants on her willingness of self preservation." Len disagrees. "Take it."

Kimberley nodded her thanks and lifted the cup of clear liquid to her lips, and drank it in two gulps. "That's some mighty fine water there Miss Sumners, gotta hand it to ya!"

"Sumners? Are you talking about Teyla?" Dara asked, stopping at one end of the vents in time to see Kimberley nod.

"You guys ever feel like bursting into song? I fell like bursting." Kimberley started to warm up but an explosion rocketed through the area. "Aww man, too early."

Taking cue Len knocked the grill from the wall and headed out feet first, rolling to a stop. "Sorry to break in like this, but no invite."

"Boring party anyway Len, but it's about to get sparky!" Kimberley grinned as Dara shook her head and followed suit.

"Who are you? What are you plans? How did you get here?" Sheppard asked.

"One we don't owe you guys no answers. Two you will find out in a moment. Three, Kimberley, what are our plans?" Len and Dara walked over to Kimberley as Len finished speaking.

The youngest motioned for the backpack and pulled out the Zed PM. "Okay guys, check your monitors. This is the last remaining Zee PM in the area. We blew up your only reserves, so apart from the two you have stashed in the power room, this is your last one. Give us safe passage to stand next to the gate, and you will get it back."

"No chance." McKay growled and lunged for the girl.

"DARA! CATCH!" Said girl 'oofed' as the weight caught up with her.

"Len! McKay in the middle!" Dara and Len started tossing the priceless ancient artefact in the air as Ronon picked up the data pad.

"How about a trade?"

Kimberley whispered something to Len who nodded. "Fine. But I don't wash dishes."

The three human females laughed at that.

"Wait! I do dishes! If tossing them out the window _counts_ as doing dishes?" Dara exclaimed, setting the girls off in laughter once more.

"But seriously man, don't press the number eight button. I think I reprogrammed the self destruct button to that one." They stopped laughing and stood near the door.

"Yeah right." Ronon laughed and pressed the button.

The same time an alarm sounded.

"Alonzo!" Len cheered, Dara grabbed the computer, Kimberley threw the C4 at them and the three quickly ran down the stairs and into the freshly dialled Stargate.

o0o

A jerk woke three girls in different parts of the world. All with a different theory on what happened, and a different gift from their adventure.


	3. Catherine and the Stargates

**A/N: **This is dedicated to HighOnStargate, for a Christmas present, and for being such a wonderful and creative person (and allowing me to pick on her wee sister :))

o0o

Catherine, a young girl of 14, with brown hair and light grey eyes, sat on the computer table, tapping her pen against her lip.

Her older sister, Len, walked into the room and seemed to be talking to thin air. "Hey Kimberley, yeah, everything's fine, the thing still glowing? No radiation? Erm, has your hair started to fall out? No? Good, then nothings coming out...yet. Hold on: CATHERINE! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

"Len, my ears!" Catherine heard as she passed her sister, causally walking backwards.

"I'm telling mom you stole her ear piece!" She shouted and slammed the door the same time she shouted. "MAMA! LEN—"

Len opening the door and pulled her in, slamming it shut and putting over the dead bolt.

"One, stay out of my room, two this isn't moms." Len glared to the younger terror.

"Whatever. Hey your stupid show is on." Catherine grinned as Len ran from the room, calling out a good bye to her ear and left her in the room one again. 'Stupid show, like wormhole travel is even stable enough, never mind the amount of energy needed to keep it going through the travel phase. Unless it had a self rerunning power cell...'

The thing about Catherine is this; she's a brainy little brat. Tell her something isn't possible, she'll make you wear your words.

o0o

Dara and Len waved to each other through the computer screens. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"We're good Kels, you?" Len casually replied, flitting between looking at the screen and looking behind her.

"What's up Len?" Dara asked, her own eyes following her, then moving to one of her stories and adding a few lines here and there.

"My little sisters been bugging me about Stargate all day." "I thought she hated that show."

Len nodded to Dara (who had spoken) "So did I, but she's been holed up in the garage all day, only coming out to mutter about stable connection power lines, or something like that."

Kimberley yawned. "Maybe she's role playing?"

Len shook her head. "No, can't. My IP address has been banned from all those sites since they found out."

"Bummer. Although I did wonder why we were web caming each other rather than just going on the site and using the ear pieces." Kimberley yawned again. "Sorry guys, but this time frame is killing me."

"Shall we let you go then you're majesty?" Dara smiled. "Wait, Len, do you still have the data pad from out little adventure?"

"No it's sitting in the—" Len dashed from her computer, leaving both girls in the dark.

Quickly she made her way through the house, ducking past her parents and younger brother, stopping as she reached the garage door. Quietly she opened the door, and gaped at the site in front of her. 'Oh, My, God.'

"Dara? How many chevrons does the Atlantis gate have?" "36, why?" "And the SGC one?" "39. Len, what's going on?" "My sisters created a Stargate."

*THUD*

"Who was that?" "I think it was Kimberley." "You okay girl?" "Yeah, just lack of sleep creating a disillusioned conversation. Did you just say that your little sister created a Stargate?"

Len looked back to the large round object in front of her, then to her little sister who sat in front of it, her spark guard on, fixing some of the chevrons.

"Oh yeah."

*THUD*

"That was Dara." "Kimberley, I'll call you back." "Make sure you do."

Len pressed the button near the middle of her ear canal, turning off the earpiece, then stood forward. Her eyes caught plans, drawings and numerical do dahs, before sweeping over her sister workbench and groaned at the Atlantis crews' data pad lying there innocently.

"What are you doing in here?" Her sister demanded, standing up and moving the visor from her eyes.

"Checking to make sure-why did you build a Stargate?" "Because I could."

Len muttered something in her own native language then glared at her sister. "You know Dad's going to flip when he find out about this."

"Finds out about what?" Catherine asked and pressed the piece that she had been messing about with, causing the gate to shrink and fold into its self.

The youngest girl smirked, then rubbed her hands in glee. "Wait till you see what I build next."

The girl then grabbed the data pad and brushed past the shocked, mute girl, laughing aloud and she fainted.

o0o

Over the next few days Len kept a close eye on her young sister, taking her things to eat every few hours, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was working on.

On the third day, Catherine finally finished.

"So where is this Dara and Kimberley located then?" She asked as she put a bunch of clothes into a hold all, turning to pack up her laptop and booklet of theories.

"Daras in America and Kimberley's in Scotland." Len answered and watched as she grabbed all the stuff then walked into her room, grabbing her laptop, some clothes and the confiscated back data pad. "Hey what are you—"

"Go get some food. For a few days, four people." Catherine commanded, then walked down the hallway to the garage and butted the door open.

"Hey guys, my sisters planning something." Len spoke to herself and pressed the button at her ear.

"Can you tell her to plan this later, I just got to sleep." Kimberley growled and Len could envision her sitting up on her bed, glaring at the space in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm still in work." Dara replied after a silence. "Requesting silence guys, managers coming round in a minute."

o0o

Len had managed to stall her sister a few hours, then wished she hadn't.

There, in front of her, was a light blue Puddle Jumper, with her sisters' small scrawl and signature image of her star sign at the rear bottom.

"Wow. So this is where the toaster went." "And the old fridge, and the cats cage, the spare sheets of metal from the scrap yard, the frame from your bed—" "You took apart my bed!" "Well, do you want the hull integrity to be breeched during transition?"

"Wait, what?" Len shook her head and tried to figure out what she was talking about.

"We, which being you, me, the two girls Dara and Kimberley, are going to go to Atlantis so I can talk with Rodney McKay and Samantha Carter. And to give them the extra Zee PM you have stashed at someone's house." "How did you- I mean, we don't HAVE a Zed PM anywhere..." "Oh please, I read the stuff you read when I'm bored."

Lens mouth opened and closed her mouth, then shook her head. "Okay, then, but how are we going to get back?"

Catherine opened her hand and showed her a small black ball. Mini portable Stargate.

"I think I need to sit down."

o0o

"I need to sit down." Dara replied when Len and her little sister turned up at the end of her shift, in a Puddle Jumper and after they showed off the portable Stargates. "Or get my eyes tested."

"No need. You really are seeing a Stargate and Puddle Jumper." The smaller girl replied as though she had been through this before. "Right, can we go now?"

"Wait, go where?" Dara demanded as she began standing.

"To get Kimberley. Then to go to Atlantis." The girl replied, then turned around to look her in the eye. "Hi, I'm Catherine."

"Wait, how? No I get the how, but how?" The oldest girl asked as she walked into the jumper and looked around.

"It would take too long to explain." Catherine tried to shrug her off.

"Oh? You want to try me?" Dara shot back.

Catherine opened her mouth but Len clamped her hand over her mouth. "We don't want to get into that. If this works then we'll be in Atlantis before night fall."

"But first we have to get Kimberley. You know this makes me glad I kept the C4 in my locker in work." Dara nodded and sat down at the controls, jumping slightly as the thing came to life.

"It's plugged into your Y chromosome." Catherine explained and sat down on the other controls and placed her hand over the section that separated them from each other. The back of the jumper lifted up and the image of the dusty blue van disappeared as Catherine activated the cloak.

o0o

By the time they got to Glasgow and pin pointed Kimberley it was early morning for them - so the middle of the afternoon for her. The last girl stood at her bus stop, obviously, waiting for the bus.

Shifting her black bag around her shoulder she jumped and screeched in alarm as the air in front of her flickered and a light blue van appeared. 'What the-?'

The back door opened and a small girl jumped out, stretching her legs. Another two girls followed. "Dara? Len? What the-?"

"Kimberley, meet my sister, Catherine. Catherine, this is Kimberley, the last girl. You got the Zee PM?" Len asked, casually looking around the deserted area.

"Yeah, and its killing my back. Why, no wait, what, no, how did you guys get here?" Kimberley struggled to understand how the hell they got there, never mind what they were planning.

"Just grab her, we'll explain on the way. I want to get back before Bratz comes on later." Catherine ordered and walked back into the 'van.'

Len rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath as she and Dara grabbed the stunned girl and led her into the jumper.

o0o

A few hours later, after avoiding a few low flying planes and some space debris, the quartet sat in the puddle jumper as the youngest triple checked everything was going to be okay.

"Hey, why is the people who hand about with me getting younger?" Dara asked, finally noting the age difference between herself, Kimberley, Len and Catherine.

Len blinked and stopped giving her sister a boost, causing the girl to drop in the air. "Heh, you're right!"

"Ow!" Catherine glared." Stop being such a meanie Len, I am the one taking you through to your favourite stupid show."

"Speaking of, why do you want to go with anyway?" Len demanded.

"Because you squishes wouldn't understand what to do." said Catherine snidely, crossing her arms.

"Erm, sorry to be annoying, but can someone explain please?" Kimberley finally spoke from her seat up front.

Catherine sighed. "I created a Stargate, and this puddle jumper, so I could talk with Rodney McKay about his theories, and compare some notes with him."

"So you passed on your crush then?" Dara grinned and looked around the highly detailed inside of the puddle jumper.

Len rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? What if the Atlantis we're going to is a different one from the one they guys came from?" Kimberley worried, secretly not wanting to give up her ultra uber cool ancient alien technology. "Anyone notice that in all our adventures, they've always focused around the Zee PM's?"

Len shrugged and Dara nodded. "It's weird, but hey, you're getting to see Carson again, are you really complaining?"

"Not to you Kirk." Len laughed as Kimberley ducked away from Dara. "Chill! I was just having a laugh. Hey, what are the chances that this will work?"

"Seventy two percent." Catherine answered off handily and finished with the panel, pushing it closed, then dusted her hands off. "Right, everyone get comfy, we're off."

"How are you going to get the gate outside?" Kimberley asked.

Catherine shook her head, put the small cube into a holder, then pressed a few buttons, and the cube disappeared, reappearing outside the jumper but a good mile away.

"Whoa." The trio synced.

"Okay guys, get ready, hold on to something and don't let go!" Catherine giggled and clapped her hands, duel seatbelts wrapping themselves around her. Moving quickly she punched in the gate address for Atlantis and looked back to the terrified girls. "Don't worry, if this doesn't work we'll just end up demolecuralised at the other end."

'Gee, I feel all safe now.' Len thought and closed her eyes, praying for this to work.

o0o

On Atlantis Doctor Radek Zelenka frowned at the scanner as a small blip appeared. "Col. Carter? Something has just appeared beside Atlantis."

"Is it a ship?" Col. Samantha Carter asked as she walked over to him.

"It looks like a small structure similar to a Stargate but smaller." He continued and she nodded.

"Col Sheppard, get your team together and get a puddle jumper, there's something I'd like you to investigate." Carter spoke into her earpiece.

o0o

"On our way." Sheppard replied and signalled to his team as they sat in the mess hall. "C'mon guys, Carter wants us to investigate something with a jumper."

"Do we have too?" Meredith 'Rodney' McKay groaned and put down his fork. "Just once I'd like to have a meal without it being interrupted by something!"

The others - Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex - rolled their eyes and followed their leader to the jumper bay.

Once they had grabbed their gear from the waiting marines, they entered the jumper, grabbed their seats, and flew out of the hanger and into atmosphere towards the unknown object.

Several minutes later, the puddle jumper stopped behind the smaller than normal Stargate. McKay began scanning and they all paused to watch as the gate was dialled and an object flew out of it - a backwards puddle jumper?

o0o

"Did we have to go through it backwards?" Dara asked as Len and Kimberley picked themselves up from the back of the ship.

"Whoa, head rush!" Kimberley giggled and lurched forward, grabbing onto the wall to stay stable.

"Oops." Catherine whispered and grinned.

"'Oops'? Why oops?" Len demanded, coming to a stop beside her sister.

"I forgot to fully initiate the inertial dampeners, so we hit a bit more G force than we should have." The youngest giggled and looked cute, trying to get away with it.

"Hey what's that in front of us?" Dara asked, pointing to the sleek blob in front of them.

Catherine dropped her kid act and began tapping away, entering codes and opening a channel to the thing in front of them.

o0o

John jumped slightly as a small girl, who looked about 14 appeared on the screen in front of him. "Hika bika boo?"

He turned to look at Teyla and Ronon, who shook their heads, then turned back to the image. Pressing a few keys he opened his mouth to reply when someone else bet him too it.

"Boo sha girl!" A second voice chimed in.

"KIMBERLEY!" A third voice, familiar for some reason.

"Sorry, just, that's what you do you know." The second replied.

"Kels, just, shush." Another voice chimed in and the Atlantis crew remained silent.

"My name is Catherine. The first to speak is Kimberley, then Dara, and last one to speak is Len. Will you allow us passage to your base?" The youngest, Catherine, asked.

"Follow me." He nodded and they made their way towards Atlantis.

o0o

Two security teams, a medical team, a science team and Col Carter stood at the hanger bay puddle jumper personnel entrance.

The two jumpers came to rest on the ground and Sheppard's team got out of their quickly, the second one took their time.

Slowly it opened up and a little girl jumped out, breathing in deeply and turned to the ship she had jumped out of. "C'mon guys!"

Agonizingly slowly three other figures walked out.

"Dara? Kimberley?" Teyla asked as she finally realised where she knew the voices from. "How have you managed—"

"Yeah yeah, well get to that soon, but where's Doctor McKay?" Catherine asked, looking between the men.

"Er, I am." McKay replied and eeped as the girl latched on to him, talking fastly about different scientific things.

There was a beat of silence.

"Where did you get the jumper?" Sheppard asked.

"Catherine made it." Len mumbled.

"M-made it?" Carter stuttered, eyes turning to see the girl talking animatedly about the use of solar panelled and cold panelled powered to power wormhole travel. "But isn't she –"

"She's 14." Len shrugged. "She's been already been asked to join MENSA."

"Where do you girls come from?" Carter continued, mind reeling. 'If we could get her to be part of the Stargate Programme, I mean, she's young but to build something that the ancients did without it blowing up is-is mind blowing!'

"I don't like the ways she's looking at me." Catherine whispered to her sister after she turned around and looked twice at the head of the facility. "Can we give them the stuff? I want to get home soon."

"Home? You mean back to your Earth?" Sheppard asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's the same one as yours." Catherine shrugged her shoulders. "The Stargate was created to lock on with the nearest on within the different realities using a zippy little code I thought of and by using—"

"A fox math base line!" Rodney finished with her. "Kid-you're a genius!"

"Why thank you, but because we locked with a hopefully not out reality, otherwise it would destroy the two, and I like my reality." Catherine giggled. "Oh Kimberley, give 'em the thingy."

"Just a second." Kimberley glared at the youngest girl, and stopped looking around. "Hey where's Carson?"

The silence filled them all in.

Dara and Len walked over to the silent (for a change) girl and hugged her softly.

"Why is she acting like her best friend just died?" Catherine asked, looking around at the sombre room.

"She, er, she liked Carson, and they got along." Dara replied, rubbing the Scottish girls arm and smiled sadly. "C'mon girl, let's get this done with."

"Here." She muttered and handed her backpack to Len, who almost dropped it in surprise.

"Whoa! What have you got in here?" Len asked. 'I'm no weakling and I'm struggling! This is heavier than my school bag!'

"It's the Zee." Kimberley shrugged, then closed her eyes and breathed in, smiling as she opened her eyes. "So what do we do now?"

"Give them this, then go." Len shrugged. Cautiously she walked over to Rodney who was still getting his ear talked off by the brainy bratty new teenager. "We had an adventure a few months ago and got the earpieces, a couple of C4 blocks and this."

The gang looked on with some interest, which quickly increased as they saw what she had.

"A ZED PM!" Rodney nearly shouted and lunged for the artefact, hugging the girl closely. "You don't know how-how-where-agh!"

He hugged her again and leaned into to kiss her when an alarm went off.

'Hmm, thought that was just my head.' Len thought and watched as they began running around, checking monitors and frowning.

"Looks like a hive just appeared to check out the unusually activity in space." Rodney was town between shouting at the girls and keeping the happiness that he had. "I'll run down with this to the power room and Sheppard can swat them from the sky."

"Why not just beam a nuke into their engines?" Catherine asked, wondering why they were being stupid.

"Eh, we don't have beaming technologies. I mean, the Asguard ships do, but we haven't been able to put them on Atlantis or the jumpers." Sheppard bit his lip.

"Use mine." Catherine commented and walked over to a consol. "Hey, who's got the Data Pad?"

Len handed it to her and she quickly hacked into her puddle jumper. "Dara put the C4's on the ground over there."

Dara nodded and put them next to the plant, which vanished in a light pink light, C4 and green oxygen giver.

"And 3, 2, 1." Catherine counted down. Everyone as one turned to look at the screen.

The Hive ship was in the process of being blown to pieces.

"How did you get past heir shields?" "The beam phases them out of matter and into particles, meaning that they can slip through."

Everyone stared at the brainyack kid before Major Lorne interrupted. "How come we can't use the two Stargates that you created for travel to our home Earth?"

"Because they are like two shoes, only go together right if both are used." Catherine rolled her eyes. 'Guys, cute to look at but thick as a slice of bread.' "If I made another set here I would be able to get them to hopefully connect with your Earths position, but it's a one in 49 to the power tenth billion chance that it won't."

"Anyone else confused by the numbers?" Dara whispered to her friends, who both nodded. "Anyone know where we can get something to eat? I just finished a shift and..."An hour later and the girls were all fed, watered and ready to leave, each of them having their own little adventure.

o0o

_Sheppard stopped walking and waved his hand towards the mess hall where everyone was currently entering._

_"So Dara, been up to much since we last met?" He asked, sliding up beside her with two trays._

_"Thanks. No, nothing much. You?" "Me? Nah, nothing much." "Just saving the Universe every few weeks?" "Well I wouldn't say every few weeks."_

_They shared a laugh._

_"So, haw are-" "-are you going to ask me to kiss you or are you just going to dance around it all night?"_

_He looked at her shocked before grinning. "Thought you'd never ask."_

_The two slinked off without another word to find an empty balcony._

o0o

_Len listened as Zelenka carried on about the ways that Rodney has been a pain the aft after she accidently let it slip that she used to not like the man, and now looked around for a way to save herself. 'Ahha! There goes one way!' "I'm sorry Doctor Zelenka, but I need to ask Chuck an important question."_

_"I'll see you later then." The kind doctor replied and disappeared into the belly of Atlantis, not looking back as Len slumped over the consol._

_"You know my name!" Chuck almost shouted as he hugged the girl. "If there's anything, and I mean anything I can—"_

_"Think you can help me get some batteries for these ear pieces? I know we've had them on and off for about four months now, and I know they run flat..."_

_"Say no more." He nodded and pulled the unwilling girl towards the armoury._

o0o

_The University student found herself outside Carson Becketts old quarters before she even knew it. Shaking her head, she walked over to the outside balcony a little ways back, breathing in deeply and releasing it as she tried not to cry._

_"Hey." "AH!"_

_She twirled round with an arm in the air and dropped it seeing Rodney behind her. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone..."_

_"It's no problem, you couldn't hurt me." He brushed her comments off and handed her the data pad that he had been examining. "Where did you get the programme to show the different species?"_

_"The what?" She blinked at him. "Oh that! I lost my dog one night and couldn't figure out where she was, so I changed the settings to see body temperatures as different colours and kept it at that ever since. It shows different species?"_

_"Well, Teyla has a different body temperature than Ronon, whose different than the rest of us." He shrugged. "Anyway, I recharged the laptop, and added a few features, nothing that'll compromise our security, but should make it so that you can warn us next time you come for a visit."_

_"Thanks." She whispered and hugged him._

o0o_  
_

The trio looked at each other before looking around. "Where's Catherine?"

"NO! NO YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO!"

"Down there." Len sighed. "CATHERINE! WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"She tried to get 'lost' in one of the tech labs." Zelenka answered and two marines hauled the girl between them.

"Sorry 'bout that." Len sweat dropped and laughed. "Little sisters, into diaries, bed rooms, laboratories, hehe."

"Just don't forget to visit some time." Carter smiled, then looked at the older girls. "But without the minor."

They all laughed before getting into the puddle jumper and leaving the galaxy, already planning when they would next return.


	4. Sparky and Michael

Years have passed, many springs turned to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, winter to spring. Relationships had come and gone, promotions received, graduations attended and growing up done.

The last time we saw our adventurers, Kimberley and Dara, they had grown in companion number, but now it was once again the original two that stood beside each other as they dusted down the old Puddle Jumper created by Kimberley's friend's – Len – sister Catherine.

The late spring night was chilly, with the sun beginning to set, but neither female noticed. As they looked around the outside of the ship, the oldest and more experienced of the two kept glancing at the normally loud one. Twice she opened her mouth to speak, closing it again as the girl walked away.

Finally, before Dara pressed the open button she put her hand on Kimberley's shoulder and spoke who had been on her mind. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Her reply was silence until her shoulders began to shake, one word passing through her lips. "Sparky."

Immediately Dara understood; the furry thing her family was sure was a dog, the one that they had spent over 20 thousand dollars on when she was ill, the friend that helped Kimberley through to much, had passed away. "Oh Kimberley, I'm so sorry, are you –"

"Can we just go and see Atlantis, please?" Kimberley begged, needing to put a galaxy of difference between her and the family.

Dara nodded and opened the back hatch as Kimberley carefully lifted a suitcase off the ground, a duffle pack across her back.

"Did you remember to pack the kitchen sink?" Kimberley asked, placing them on the overhead bins.

"I just put the whole kitchen in, easier this way." Dara replied, using a damp rag to wipe away the build up of grime. "Hey, remember those sub space pockets that Len got Catherine to make? What happened to them?"

"Well, there was two after the prototype. You got one and I got one, dunno what happened to the original-"

"-didn't Catherine get first place in the state science fair that year?"

"Yeah, then _someone_ decided to put both of ours together to see what would happen and we both lost over a foot of hair." Kimberley finished, glaring at Dare's chagrined face as she sat down on her assigned seat. "Now let's go see some hotties!"

"Oui, Mon Capitaine." Dara grinned, ignoring a small beeping noise and charting a course for the Pegasus galaxy, taking the ship out of park and releasing it into the air, breaking through the atmosphere minutes later.

Kimberley reached over to press a button and pulled her slapped hand away in pain. "OW!"

"No touchy Rodney." Dara sang.

Kimberley rolled her eyes, reaching out again and pressing the orange button, grinning as the theme music from Stargate SG1 began pounding out from the speakers.

Dara mirrored the eye roll, turning a dial and stopping the music from deafening them to just numbing their brains. "You know they'll have changed. It has been years since our last adventure. Things may have changed. They might not be there."

Kimberley nodded once more before checking the scanners. "We deploying this gate or what?"

A small section of the hull opened up, allowing a small black cube to escape. Lighting jumped from it, and soon it expanded into a complete full sized Stargate. Dara keyed in the address and frowned as the music stopped and warning noises increased in volume. 'What the?"

Something rammed into the back of the ship, momentum carrying them closer to the opening event horizon, Kimberley's head cracked forward, the blow knocking her out,. Dara scrambled to her feet, jumping away from the sparking machines and on fire circuit boards. Blood dripped down her side as she knelled in front of her friend. "Kimberley? Kimberley? Speak to me!"

Another something jolted them again, this time causing them to sail through the open gate, the process causing Dara to pass out.

o0o

Hours pass before one of our heroines awake. Blearily Kimberley blinks the spots away from her eyes, groaning at the pain in her head. Looking around for Dara, she frowns before noting the still body beside her. "Dara! Oh no, no, no, no, Dara, Dara, are you okay – oh God the blood!"

Hysterically she began screaming Daras' name over and over, turning her friend over to see the extent of the damage. A piece of the consol had embedded itself in her side.

A shudder passed through Kimberley as she shakily began looking for a pulse. Finding done snapped her into reality. 'I did not become a certified nurse to let my friend die.'

Quickly she removed the top layer of her top and braced herself. Steeling her stomach, she pulled the shrapnel from the wound and shoved the folded up piece of clothing into the spate to staunch the bleeding.

Daras eyes snapped open at the pain, her scream echoing around the confined space. Looking around she saw Kimberley grabbing the first aid kit. "K-Kimberley, you-you're alive!"

"Small miracles eh?" She replied, dragging the green box to beside her, "Dara, I have to stop the bleeding and clean the wound, But I don't have any anaesthetic so this is going to be painful."

"Wait! Get to Atlantis, they will have anaesthetic!" Dara demanded eyes wide at the prospect of that much pain.

"This is a ship, I don't do ships!" She denied.

"I'll talk you through it, it'll be okay." Dara smiled.

"P-promise?" She hiccupped, starring into her eyes.

"I swear on my DVD collection." Vowed Dara. "Now press the blue button beside the ear phone sockets. Press the purple button and that'll send a signal to a similar frequency ships nearby."

"But what if there are any Wraith nearby?"

"We gated to Atlantis, they don't let Wraith near." Dara replied, grunting as she sat up, wincing at the pulsing pain. "What are the chances anyway?"

"Hey Dara, where is Atlantis?" Kimberley asked, finally noting the lack of planes in the view port.

"It should be in front of us." She frowned, straining her head to peer over the consol.

"Did what ever happen knock us off course?" Kimberley blinked, hand moving to turn the puddle jumper around, eyes scanning the vast darkness trying to pin point the wayward planet.

"There-there's no way it would change our final destination. Unless there was a sol-solar flare present." Dara groaned. "Is there an icon next to the cup holder?"

"Cup holder, cup holder – Aha! Nope, no icon." Kimberley tapped the glass.

"Right were in the current time and place, so where the bloody hell is that planet!" Demanded Dara.

o0o

Inside a nearby ship, the navigator stood straighter as a beep was heard, followed by a soft female voice asking for help. Turning sharply they left their post, heading down the halls to their captains quarters.

"Sir." He nodded to his superior. "We have a distress signal. From an adapted Ancient ship."

"Let's go help our friends then." His captain and leader smiled, stalking to the helm.

o0o

Some thousand or so light years away Doctor Radek Zelenka blinked owlishly as a message of distress flitted past his screen. Rubbing his eyes he stared at his brain realised why the frequency was familiar. "Rodney! The girls! The girls are back! Rodney!"

"Geez Zelenka, can't a guy take a stroll in a dead city without being shouted at to death?" Doctor Rodney McKay asked as the happy technician ran to him. "Wait, what girls?"

"I know you're getting on in your old age – Len, Dara, Kimberley and -"

"-the mini me!" Rodney snapped his fingers but did not move from his desk. "Well, what are you waiting for? Send a jumper through and get them! This might be our last chance!"

o0o

"Dara, why is the pink button glowing?" Kimberley asked, pointing at the aforementioned item.

"Someone's hailing us – don't joke!" Dara glared, face scarily pale. "Press the button next to it – on the left! Geez, why did we never show you how to fly this thing again?"

"Because I took to it like Buffy." She answered, also pressing the correct button. "Hey Dara?"

"Yeah?"

"If we were sent to the right location and that then how come the planet isn't here? I mean, there's no rubble to suggest it blew up, could it have left?"

Dara blinked up at her, and then got a shit-eating grin on her face. "Kimberley, you're a genius!"

"Why, thank you." Kimberley smiled, and then frowned. "Why?"

"Gravitational pull meant that the planet – and everything else – had moved within the last ten years." Dara explained.

"Oh."

"Oh what Kimberley? That's a good thing!"

"But that isn't."

"What? What is it?"

"A Wraith Hive ship. Dead ahead and coming right at us." Kimberley whispered, fear over taking both their pains.

There was a silence.

Until.

"Kimberley, did ya _have_ to say _dead_ ahead?"

o0o

The Wraith warriors stood with their weapons ready as the Atlantian ship landed gently at the docking bay. Their leader walked over to the back and rapped three times. "We know you are in there."

"And we know you are out there." Came from the speaker.

"Kimberley!"

"Sorry! But we're not coming out while you're carrying those stunner guns things about – were injured in here."

"Kimberley!"

"Sorry, I shouldn't of said that – hey at least-"

"-Kimberley, take your hand off the button."

"Ehhe, sorry." Kimberley replied then silence fell.

"If there are only two of you and you have no weapons, I will make my men leave if you open your ship." The leader stated.

Silence reigned until banging was heard inside the ship. "Wow! Ow! Wrong button, wrong button!"

"Kimberley!"

"Sorry double Dara! Can you stop spinning please?"

The Wraith in charge nodded and the security detail left, knowing that the two inside were more damage to each other than to their ruler.

Slowly the hatch began its decent and the head honcho peered in, face full of concern at the amount of blood on the floor. With an unnatural grace, he stepped inside and waited.

The door behind him hissed closed and the two female humans revealed themselves – one had chin short mousy brown hair wearing clothes of comfort and held onto one side of her body, her skin worryingly pale. The other had longer brown hair, near mid back, with blood caking one-half of her face. Again, she wore clothes for comfort.

Dara and Kimberley stared at the Wraith in front of them. "Dara, pinch me-ow!"

Kimberley glared at her friend before jumping back to grab her as she pitched forward. "Michael, little help here please?"

"How did you know my name?" Michael demanded as he picked the female up.

"I'll answer everything if you help her – please." Kimberley turned to him with tears in her eyes.

"Of course." He nodded and stalked towards the door, pausing, as it remained closed. "Kimberley?"

"Yeah? Oh! Sorry!" Kimberley smiled as she opened the hatch and followed him out.

o0o

In Atlantis, Rodney McKay glared at Zelenka as he finished speaking. "What do you mean that they were gone when you got there? They're supposed to come here!"

"There have been some reports that a Wraith Hive ship was in the area just before we arrived." Zelenka continued, ignoring Rodney's wince. "Do you want us to continue searching or...?"

Rodney looked down, his gaze firmly on the last photograph taken on his group – before everything that happened, happened. 'Ten years ago today.' "No, search for them. This may be our last chance."

* * *

Blurriness over took Dara as her eyes opened for the first time in what felt like fays. Dimly she was aware of a slight twinge in her side but let it slide as someone peered down at her. Blinking away that last of the spots she frowned as she noticed the Wraith standing above her – WRAITH!"

"AHHHHH!" She screamed, scrambling backwards and falling onto the Hive ship floor, scrambling backwards and looking for a weapon as she did so. "Who the-where the hell-what is going on? Where is Kimberley?"

"Who screamed, why, where's Dara – hey Dara, what's up, you feeling better?" Kimberley asked as she skidded to a stop, moving forward as a ball of fluff bumped into her.

"Is-is that Sparky?" Dara baulked, face paling in horror. "How did you – what did you do?"

"What I planned to do." The younger shrugged, looking down at her feet. "Wouldn't you do the same?"

"Did you clone her?" Dara asked.

Kimberley paused then shook her head. "She wouldn't be the same Sparky if she was cloned."

"So how did you – no!" Dara denied, stepping backwards. "You got the Wraith to give her the essence of life? How could you do that?"

"She did now want to lose her companion." Michael answered from beside the now smiling female. "We have had an interesting discussion while you were recovering."

"What did you tell him?" Suspicion swam in Daras eyes. The knowledge that Kimberley had about Stargate and Atlantis was not like some fans but it was deep enough to cause bother. 'What has she done?'

"Kimberley has only told us enough to find the told Atlantian base." The Hybrid answered, bending down to pat the furry animal. Standing up he walked over to the diagnostic equipment. "Your wound will be completely healed within a week."

"What, no Wraith Enzyme liquid life for me Kimberley, am I not good enough but your dog is – no wait, you don't want to waste it on me since your precious dead pup needs it." Dara seethed, rage coursing through her. "Did you plan this?"

Kimberley blanched and shook her head. "I wanted to get to Atlantis; they would be able to heal her. B-but Michael said he could be able to help, an-and we got talking. I kinda accidentally slip that we were heading to 'lantis and they figured out where it was – were going there just now."

o0o

"Uh, Doctor Zelenka, a Wraith Hive ship is heading out way." A recent MIT graduate, Eli Wallace, announced as the monitors began bleeping.

"How did they get our location?" Doctor Nicholas Rush remanded from his position next to a consol, a strip of duck tape hanging in the air.

"The only way to pinpoint our location is to have the gate address and follow its trajectory path." Doctor Peter Kavanaugh stated, typing rapidly on his computer. "We don't have enough power to dump the gate or move location."

"Where are they due to get here?" Doctor Carolyn Lam asked.

"They're dropping out of hyperspace as we speak." Eli whispered, feeling of dread deep in his gut.

"Scan the ship; see if they have the girls." Rodney ordered, still in his office.

o0o

On the Wraith Hive, ship Dara slid her feat backwards, raising her hands and preparing her body for a fight, "Kimberley, I never thought I would ask this – but whose side are you on?"

"The Right side." She replied, stepping away from both parties. "You know I didn't agree with Teyla killing Michael, or the whole experimentation thing."

"But to give up Atlantis? Her people? Earth? Six billion lives – more than that, all for a dog?" Dara frowned.

"But she's my dog. I just want them to stop dying." Tears fell and realisation dawned on her. 'Crap, what have I done?'

"You don't _really_ want to eat us Earthlings, were all full of junk food and pollutants, a lot are ill or really old too!"

o0o

"There area two human signatures and one furling, grouped together near the main part of the ship." Chuck relayed the information, Zelenka typing in commands beside him.

"Permission to bring them home?" Rush asked Rodney, who nodded.

o0o

"Are you going against us, Kimberley?" Michael began closer to her. "After all we discussed all we talked about?"

"I've not been thinking straight, there's been a lot going on in my life." Kimberley gibbered, stepping closer to Dara, who mirrored the movement.

"I think its time we leave." Dara voiced once the girls were closer, turning to go down the hall where the puddle jumped lay waiting for them, hitting the brick wall known as Joe the security guard.

Kimberley 'eeped' as someone put their hands on her shoulders, watching helplessly s Joe lifted Dara easily off the floor, sticking her onto the ship – cocooning her in place.

Instantly Kimberley began thrashing about, knocking the one who was holding her to the ground in pain. Turning abruptly, she leapt at Michael, the Wraith too stunned to do anything except throw his arms out, his feeding hand suck on her chest.

"KIMBERLEY!" Dara screamed, fighting with the bonds and growling in frustration. "Let her go!"

o0o

The Tau'ri Atlantians blinked as the Asguard beaming technology light died down, leaving a dog on the floor, Dara to tall from a height and Kimberley stumbling about clutching her chest. Immediately the medical crew launched into action.

Dara lifted herself off the ground, too shocked to speak, as she slowly made her way to Kimberley. Placing her arm on her shoulder, she whispered her name.

Her head shot up and stared at Dara, who flinched. "Dara? What just happened?"

Opening and closing her mouth the older of the two could only shrug. "Dunno Kimberley. Dunno."

Slowly she stood up and took stock of the area, noting many of the Destiny crew were in the stations. "Who's in charge here?"

"I am." An older, slightly paunch's man replied, wheeling himself down a ramp, coming to an expert stop in front of the group. "I am. Where is mini-mensa?" He asked, looking around the two.

"Mini-men- you mean Catherine? She's back on earth." Kimberley replied, crossing her eyes as she squinted at him. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

The man nodded and Daras mouth dropped open. "Doctor Rodney McKay?"

Both girls stared at him, wondering how the hell that had happened.

"Wait a minute." Dara snapped her fingers, all attention going to her. "Why is Michael still alive? Why is Atlantis floating in the middle of space? What the hell happened here?"

Rodney blinked at her questions before nodding to Doctor Lam "Are they okay to move?"

"Dara has a recently operated on wound on the left hand side of her body, and I think Kimberley has a concussion." Carolyn replied.

"I didn't ask for a diagnosis, just if they could move to the conference room." McKay snapped.

The CMO nodded.

"Thank you. This way please." He gestured towards the general area of the main conference room.

Kimberley walked towards Dara who kept her head focused on the guide in front of her. Sparky snuffed excitedly around the room, tongue nearing the floor as she panted in happiness.

The walk to the room was not long, but it felt like an eternity since the girls first entered the puddle jumper and began this latest adventure.

"I want to go home." Kimberley whispered to Sparky, who shook her face and fur, looking as though she was about to run.

"Miss Boyce, your attention please." Rodney asked, assign out files as the young woman turned in her seat, face flushing. "Right, we'll start from the beginning. Ten years ago, today, the Human-Wraith hybrid Michael kidnapped Teyla and her soon to be born son. We spent months trying to find her, until we found the processing plan that collapsed. This collapsed, trapping several of us inside the rubble. This is where the two of you come in."

"Huh?" "Wha?" The girls added oh so eloquently, sharing a dumfounded look.

"Well, both of you but in different ways." Rodney clarified. "Kimberley, after finishing your psychology PhD you convinced Dara to go on a tour of your America with you, finding a Wraith in Las Vegas. Daras quick thinking saved our lives but before you left, you told us about the things to come. Not all but enough to stop the SGC employing several NID personnel which meant that others were recruited."

He broke off, looking to the setting sun outside the window, sighing before continuing. "Based on your information, and different reliable sources, we tried to infiltrate Michael's bases, only to have them self destruct on us, leaving Sheppard dead and me in a wheel chair."

Silence fell upon them. Dara opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. Swallowing loudly she noted how dry her mouth was as she spoke. "How do we fix it?"

"You need to go back in time and stop yourself telling us all this information. Please." Rodney asked, hope shinning through his eyes.

"Well do it." Dara nodded, standing up.

"Good, but the dog has to stay here." Kavanaugh replied.

"Say what?" Kimberley demanded, standing up and glaring at the scientist.

"The dog has Wraith enzyme in her body, to send her back would be like sending a homing beacon to earth." Rodney explained further.

"But-" Kimberley opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off as a blast rocketed the city.

"No time to argue, you know what you have to do?" Rodney asked Dara, who nodded. "Good. Good luck girls."

"This device will beam you back into your puddle jumper." Zelenka handed Dara a flat four by four piece of technology with a red button on it then handed a data pad to Kimberley. "This has the programming you will need to get back ten years in the past."

"Okay." Dara nodded again, turning to Kimberley as she added. "Say goodbye."

Another blast hit the city and caused Kimberley to fall to her knees. Her hands found Sparky's paws and she put them on her shoulders, arms surrounding the fuzzy body of one of her best friends. "Bye Sparky."

Sparky licked the side of her face before whining and barking, giving her own good bye.

Two airmen handed them guns as Rodney repeated what they had to do, shouting and blasts sounding in the background. Looking around Rodney grimaced as fires began from the consoles caused by the firepower they were being bombarded with. "Good luck girls. And Gods Speed."

The duo nodded, pressing the device as another blast rocketed the city.

o0o

On the Hive ship, Kimberley and Dara appeared in an empty room. Glancing around they noticed the lack of guards and paused, checking no one was around before sprinting for the docking bay, ducking into alcoves as Wraith passed, holding their breath as Michael stormed pasted.

Michael paused at the lip of the docking bay doors, watching and waiting.

'Crap!' Dara mouthed, frowning. 'How are we getting in?'

Kimberley copied her frown, the nodded to herself. 'I'll distract him. When you get to the ship, ram it into the side. Then escape.'

'Huh?' Dara asked, confused as hell.

Rolling her eyes Kimberley pointed to herself, then to Michael, miming running as she pointed to Dara, smiling widely as she waved goodbye.

Dara shook her head negatively, but Kimberley grinned, turning around to begin her plan.

"Gah!" She shouted two feet out, glaring at Michael who had appeared behind her. "Michael, nice to see you, to see you…nice?"

Dara slapped her hand over her eyes, glaring at her some times stupid friend.

"Kimberley, you aren't trying to run away are you?" He asked, intense eyes staring into her. "I thought we had a connection?"

"We- we did- we do!" Kimberley nearly shouted, grinning widely. "That's why I wanted to tell you where Dara is."

'What!' Dara demanded silently, glaring at the girl, wondering how long the shadows will keep her safe.

"She and I split up; she's near your main computer thingy with a few blocks of C4." Kimberley lied, pointing in the area of the main hub.

"Are you lieing to me?" Michael demanded eyes turning into slits.

Kimberley shook her head. "I just handed you my entire planet, why would I lie as I gave up my best friend?"

Michael nodded his thanks before stalking in the opposite direction, leaving Kimberley and her wildly beating heart. Turning to looking at Dara, she smiled shakily. "C'mon lets go."

"I thought you were gonna hand me over." Dara spoke as they walked, glancing behind her shoulder conspiringly at the silent and empty corridor.

"Dara, I wouldn't! I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hand over Earth, or Atlantis." Kimberley stopped and grabbed her hands. "I really, really am sorry."

Dara looked into her eyes and say once more the shine of teats, but looking past they she was the fear of rejection and the hurt that Kimberley herself felt about the prospect of loosing their friendship, and the sorrow at what she had done. Her head nodded and lips smiled. "I getcha. Now let's get out of here!"

"Where did you park the jumper?" Kimberley asked, looking around the vast docking bay.

"You drove!" Dara replied, eyes rolling.

"Oh yeah." Kimberley agreed. "This way then!"

Slowly they seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes began to build up. At last the girls saw their adapted puddle jumper with one loan Wraith guard guarding it.

"I'll deal with him." Dara whispered, motioning for Kimberley to stay put. Keeping to the shadows the master baker kept her toes light as she crossed the floor silently, eyes taking in the possible weapons and quickest ways to take them down.

The Wraith paused in their walk as a shoe scuffle was magnified by their senses. Slowly they raised their weapon, clicking off the safety and stalking forward.

Dara grinned, heart pumping as the Wraith walked pas the alcove she was in. Without warning or thinking she swung around, bodily whacking into the Wraiths legs, bringing him crashing to the ground, his weapons clattering on the ground before falling off the edge and into the abyss below.

Jumping up Dara weaved backwards to avoid the left hook, ducking as the Wraiths right fist flew at her.

"You want some of this?" She taunted, weaving and bobbing backwards and forwards, waiting for the perfect opening – THERE!

The guard thrust both his arms towards her, leaving his chest and sides wide open. With a grunt Dara head butted his chest and slammed her fists into either side of his body, knocking the wind from him.

Slowly he groaned before kneeling on the floor, slumping forward with a sickening crack, knocking himself unconscious.

"Wow, way to go D." Kimberley whistled, coming up behind her and toeing the still bad guy. "When did you get stronger?"

Dara stopped looking at her hands and looked to her companion. "I haven't been fighting an awful lot lately."

"C'mon, we can think about it back home." Kimberley smiled, looking around before beginning a jog towards the shrouded in darkness puddle jumped.

"You still got the data pad?" Dara asked.

"You mean this one?" Kimberley asked, tossing the small item in the air before catching it again with a grin. "Let's go!"

Kimberley opened the hidden hatch, shuddering at the pool of dried blood on the floor.

"Dam I lost that much blood?" Dara mused, taking the gun off her back, her partner following her actions and closing the hatch.

Kimberley plugged the data pad into a USB port and typed in the codes as Dara set the jumped for flight.

"Engines 90 percent. Hull integrity 68 percent and holding. Damn girl what did you do, let a donkey ride this backwards?"

"Hey, you told me how to drive! Don't blame me!" Kimberley defended, glaring at the older woman. "Ready?"

"As ever." She replied, sitting on the seat, waiting for Kimberley to sit down before her body went through the motions, and the engines began powering up, preparing for flight. "Err Kimberley, how are we gonna get through to the outside?"

"Uh, hm." She pondered; pulling her chair closed to the consol. "Ah, here we go."

"Kimberley, that's the acceleraTOR!" Dara screamed holding onto the chair as Kimberley floored the accelerator, shooting forward and flying into and through the Hive wall, hurting into space. "STEADY THE SHIP! DON'T HIT THE DARTS!"

"Relax Dara, what's the worst I could do?" Kimberley grinned, turning to face her friend.

"WATCH THE ROAD!" Dara screamed again, horror chilling her to the bone. 'Oh God there's so much I haven't done yet!'

"Chillax." Kimberley sang, arms jerking and moving the puddle jumper into the opposite direction of the battling Hive ship. "Full steam ahead captain!"

"Who gave you the Wonka Factory?" Asked Dara, grabbing the steering from the other girl and setting them in the right direction.

The more deranged of the two just smiled. "So what's the plan Bat lady?"

"Get back home, but one thing I don't get, where did those missiles that hit us from before come from? And I don't start my Bakery masters degree until next year…" Dara trailed off, eyes focussing on the light up sections that she had asked Kimberley to check earlier. "Kimberley! There IS a sun icon there!"

"Oh, ohhh!" She 'oh'd, smartly backing away. "Sorry."

"This means that all of this hasn't happened yet, so this time line doesn't exist." She deducted, grabbing the data pad, eyes running over the data, mouth widening in a smile. "There is a solar flare in two minutes. Prepare the gate."

"Yip, yip cap'n." Kimberley agreed, pressing the chevrons, holding off pressing the last one until Dara gave her the go. "Sure saves us a lot of hassle trying to get back in time, having this handy solar flare."

"We should get some solar flare action in 3…2…1!" Dara declared, hand slamming down on the last chevron, the gate coming to life in sync with the solar flare.

A loud beeping alarm came from one of the consoles, before something slammed the girls forward. Kimberley looked over at the consol, eyes widening in alarm. "We've got drones on our heels."

"Must be why they attacked us when we first flew." Dara muttered, moving the puddle jumper around in space, trying to dodge the firepower. "So we aren't going to our past, just their past."

"So we're in the future?" Kimberley blinked, grabbing the radio. "Hey guys, who did we end up with?"

"KIMBERLEY!" Several voices shouted and the woman blushed, face flaming as she muttered an apology.

"Just wondered." She continued, sitting back down as Dara weaved towards the gate, closing her eyes as it passed through.

o0o

"Eagle One this if Foxy Four, we have a Bogey in Sector Five."

"Received Foxy Four, confirm permission to contain."

"Negative Eagle One, orders are to shoot it from the sky."

"Received Foxy Four, powering heat weapons."

"Confirmed Eagle One."

"Target acquired Foxy Four, sending missiles."

"Confirmed hit Eagle One, Bogey in the sand, repeat, Bogey in the same."

"Do you want me to investigate Foxy Four?"

"Negatory Eagle One, Caddy's will find it."

"Rodger."

o0o

Dara blinked as she came to, groaning at the pain in her side. Looking around she found Kimberley standing at the hatch.

"Thank you for flying Air Atlantis, please remember to retrieve all your belonging and take all limbs with you. We hope you fly with us again." She smiled, waving goodbye to imaginary passengers. "Captain Dara, not as smooth a landing as could be."

"Blame the other drivers." Dara grinned, slowly walking towards the exit.

They stood in silence, letting the chilly summer air wash over them as their thoughts were processed.

"What are you going to do?" Kimberley asked, observing a shooting star. 'I with I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight: I wish Sparky has a happy long life in Atlantis.'

"Stalk the creators of SGC, maybe take a year off work and learn about the possibilities to Cause and Effect, might go to MIT. Never know if might be fun. By the sounds of what Rodney told us, we still have a few years anyway. I'm sure I would be able to get my old job back if need be." Dara replied, then spotted the same star. 'I wish this all works out.'

"How do you work that one out?" Kimberley quizzed, looking confused once more.

"It seems like we have a delayed reaction when getting information, like how the events a few years ago happened at a different pace for them." Dara shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you think you'll go to Atlantis? Should we warn them?" Kimberley questioned.

"Maybe No, we tell them we make it worse." Dara shrugged. "Are you going to be okay? About Sparky?"

"Yeah I mean, she's still alive, only in the future." Her smile turned watery. "I got to say goodbye. And hopefully – hopefully I'll see her again."

Once more they were silent before slowly walking towards Dara's car, intent within their minds to run into one another once more in the future.


	5. We'll See You Again

Author's Note: Holy, moly! This is an actual author's note from me, Lady Dark Hope. That actually means, I got off my butt long enough to write something. Granted, I should work on other items I currently have under my belt, but this was playing in my head for a little bit. Not to mention about a quater of the beginning was sitting in my harddrive for about a year. Also, for those of you that know how I write, compared to SerenBunny, yes I did write this. I know the humor is closer to her awesome ability, then my usual seriousness, but I did write it. We just haven't figured out if I "borrowed" her brain when I finished writing it.

* * *

Dara woke up with a start, then moaned when she realised where she was. "I really hate that Zat gun!" Dara hears a moan to the right of her. She turns to look and sees Kimberley laying there. "Kims!"

"Five more minutes, please."

Dara shakes her shoulder really hard. "Kimberley, wake up!"

Kimberley sits up really fast, almost knocking Dara over. "Where are we?"

Dara rolls her eyes. "Look around. In a cage."

"Oh, yeah. We got Zatted."

"Well, crap!"

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Do you know what happened to the other girl?"

"Len? No. She's not here?"

Dara shakes her head. "Nope. Do you think you can pull your plan off?"

It was now Kimberley's turn to shake her head. "I think to much time has passed to pull it off."

"Well, Suckage. So, the next bet, is to pull something off, save Len, and get out of here."

"What are you wearing?" Kimberley askes.

Dara looks down and sees a simple light brown pants and long shirt outfit. She looks over and see's that Kimberley is wearing the exact same thing. "Samething as you."

Kimberley looks down at her outfit. 'Damn!' Shaking her head, she looks over at Dara, who was looking around. "Any idea?"

Dara carefully reaches out and shocks herself on the cage energy field. "Not that way."

Kimberley rolls her eyes, then notices something. "How about that way?" she asks as she points to a vent.

"Brillant!" Dara runs over and gets right under it. "Boost up, will ya?"

"Sure, sure." Kimberley heaves with all her might, to get Dara up. Dara barely manages to get the grate off and slide in, before Kimberley loses her strength.

Dara turns around and reaches her hand down. "You coming?"

Kimberley sighes and shakes her head. "I can't fit in there."

"Flip!" Kimberley raises an eyebrow at that word, figured it was worse than what it sounded like.

Dara just sighes. "Don't ask." She looks one direction of the air ducts then back down. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!"

"Like I have a choice!"

* * *

Dara crawled through the air ducts. When she stops at the first vent, she looks down to place the guard. The idiot stood just under the vent, so if she wanted too, she could have taken him out. Decided that wasn't the best thing, currently, she continued on. As she tryed to get "the lay of the land", she tried to keep an eye out for the girl named Len. After a few minutes she was able to figure out where control center was. A few minutes after that, she figured out where the armory was. Realising she wasn't getting anywhere fast she finally decided to act. With some small amount of fumbling she pulls the grate out of the vent and quietly drops down in the armory. She grabs a vest, puts it on, grabs a P90, and attaches it to the vest. Carefully she grabs a couple of side arms with a couple of clips.

Dara looks up at the vent openning, then down at herself. "Well, that's not happening." She looks towards the door and thinks of the all the Asurans she has to get through. "Okay, I better do this. Grab Kimberley, find Len, and getting the hell out of here."

Dara goes to the door, causing it to open up. She steps into the hallway and takes a couple of steps before she was spotted. "You've got to be kidding me!" she screams. Grabbing the P90, she raises it in front of her, firing on the Asurans when one steps in front of her. She knew that firing bullets wouldn't stop them, but it causes them to pause long enough to let them go through them and mend themselves. That was long enough to run right past them. What seemed like agonizing minutes of getting turned around and running, she finally comes to the door she was looking for. Openning it, she jumps in, and aims the P90 at "Ronon".

"Dara!" Kimberley questions from the bars behind Ronon.

Without giving Ronon a chance to shoot her, she trys to fire off her P90 at him, to find out it was empty. "Crap!" With some quick thinking, she pulls it off the vest and throws it at him. As it soared through the air towards him, and he stupidly staring at it, Dara ran towards him at full speed, firing the sidearm's entire clip into him. When that ran out she threw that at him, then slams into him, herself.

When she slammed into him, he just wraps his arms around her, pinning her to him, causing one of her arms to be pinned.

"Let me go!" she screams as she pounds her free hand against him.

"I don't think so. We have a mission to complete."

Kicking her legs wildly, she asks, "What mission?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

"Yeah, well, to bad." An energy shot goes off and Ronon crumbles into silver dust.

Kimberley stares at amazement at Dara and the silver dust. "What happened?"

Dara holds up what looks like Ronon's gun and gives off an evil grin.

Kimberley stares at her as she flips a switch on the gun and fires it at the lock. "Be careful not to fire it off to much on them."

Dara pulls open the cage door and looks at Kimberley. "I don't think I'll have to worry about that. Unlike Ronon's gun, there are three settings."

"Three Settings?"

"Yeah. I'm betting the first two are the usual ones, stun and kill. I think the highest one is to kill other Asurians."

"Why on earth would they want to put a setting like that on it?"

Dara shrugs as she hands Kimberley a sidearm with the rest of the clips. "I guessing is, if they actually got into a fight with the good Asurians, they want to make sure they stay dead." She goes over to the door, causes it to open, and peeks out into the hall. "Okay, let's go."

"Wait!" Kimberley holds the gun awkwardly and looks towards the door. "Do you know where we need to go?"

Dara just shrugs as she watches out in the hall. "Yeah, I have a vague idea." Dara waves her over. "Okay, just follow me. Trust me on this."

Kimberley nods, as Dara takes off. As they ran through the halls, Kimberley heard Dara muttering something about less Asurians this time around. Finally they stop at a door. Dara causes it to open and she shoves Kimberley in the room. "Work on that computer," Dara says as she indicates towards the machine.

"What are you going to do?" Kimberley asks.

Dara gets the evil grin. "I'm going to cause a lot of distractions."

Before Dara could turn around and go, Kimberley hollors out, "Wait!"

"What?"

"Here." Kimberley throws an earpiece towards Dara. "You'll need this. So we can keep in touch and incase I find something." Dara just nods. "Good Luck."

"Same to you." With that, she disappears into the hallway.

Kimberley turns towards the computer and sighes. "I guess this will be fun." She begins to tap wildly at the keys, trying to get into the system or to get anything that matters. As she dug deeper into the system, she jumps when a loud boom sounds and the room shakes for a little. Kimberley press the ear piece and says, "Dara, what was that?"

"I told you, distractions. Find anything interesting on that computer's data base?"

"No, not yet. Wait. I think I just did."

Kimberley could here some weapons enegry fire going off over the comlink. "What is it?"

She types at the keys for a few seconds to get the whole story. "It seems that the Replicators are having a small civil war in it's ranks. Nothing big, but enough to atleast put some information in the data base."

"We already know that. Oberoth's Asurans are the main group and a small band of rebels originally lead by Niam. Niam's group want to follow in the footsteps of their creators, the Ancients. Oberoth's Asurans are seriously ticked off by the fact that the Ancients rejected them and looked at man as there success. Think of it as like all those rebel Angel movies. God makes angels and man. All the "evil" angels are pissed off because man is favored by God and get's the freedom that angels are denied."

Kimberley smirks as she begins to access more and more of the data base every second. "I'm pretty amazed on how much weird information you manage to remember."

Dara huffs over the earpiece, as if she was running. "Yeah, retaining useless information is a blessing and a curse for me."

Kimberley manages to get a scimatic up to see how exactly Atlantis was running. "Dara, are you up for a little snatch and grab?"

"Depends on what you have in mind."

"ZPMs."

"I like what you are thinking."

"I can direct you to the only ZPMs they have, but I can't help you to avoid the most enemy encounters."

"Why is that? I know I can do some good against them, but less is sometimes better."

"Yeah, life signs are only registering us, not them. I can't believe you forgot that."

"Sorry, in a middle of a fight."

"That's okay." Kimberley slowly begins to direct Dara through the "Atlantis" city on one screen as she sets up another screen to scourer the data base for more useful information. After getting Dara there, Kimberley carefully instructs her on to remove the ZPMs from their holding docks. As Dara was pulling out the last ZPM, Kimberley happen to glance over and noticed a bit of information that swept the screen. She quickly types up a command to get the information to pull up on the screen. "No, it can't be." Carefully she reads it, hoping it wasn't true.

"Okay, Kimberley. I've got the last one. Now where? Did you find anything on Len?"

"Yeah."

"Where is she?"

"She escaped."

"She what? She left without us?"

"No."

"Now, I'm confused. What are you talking about?"

Kimberley stared at the screen, trying to gather her scattered thoughts, and rocking back and forth her numbed body. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it, but her heart felt hollow and that nagging doubt wouldn't go away.

"KIMBERLEY!"

"What?" Kimberley finally responds to Dara's voice over the earpiece.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're clones."

"Huh?"

"It seems that Len, you, and me actually escaped a while ago. I mean, Dara and Kimberley. They escaped. When the Asurans read our, their, minds they found out we had a connection with the first team on Atlantis. They made us as a way to get to them."

"Made us? So, are you telling me that I'm a flesh and blood copy with nanites in me, like that episode in the series?"

"Yeah."

"Cool!"

"Cool? How can you be so excited by this fact? We'll never get to see our friend or families again. I had a life back there. I want to return to it."

"Need I point out, that you probably did return to it."

"No, she did."

"Which is you. This you is actually new. I look at it this way. There is her, with all her connections that tie her down and then there is me, with none now. I'm just like her in many ways, expect for the fact I don't have those connections. If I want to stay in this reality, I can now."

"We're going to have too. Seeing is that they are back at home."

"See, we can live on Atlantis now. It'll be fun."

"Expect for the fact that they made us to get to them to begin with. So, we're going to end up doing what they 'created' us to do."

"Okay, you got me there, but I have an idea. Start downloading all the information you can, to a tablet. We get out of here with these ZPMs and get to the nearest safest planet, then to be on the safe side, we gate to another planet or two. After that we contact Atlantis tell them to meet us, give them the ZPMs and we go from there."

"Okay."

"Kimberley, it's going to be okay. Trust me. I figure we just have to live long enough past that episode were they make Fran. By then, the Asurans will be dead and we can probably live on Atlantis then."

"Yeah, you're right. How will we know when they do?"

"Well, they know that we have information that most people don't know. So, we ask them on their latest missions. Figure out were they're at, then we put ourselves in the galaxy were we can get the best information at. Simple."

Kimberley grabs a tablet and begins to download as much important information as she could. "That sounds simple enough."

"Yup. I'm heading back your way. Get as much as you can, you hear me."

"Yeah."

After the tablet held as much as it could, Kimberley carefully pulls it out of the database plug in. She then grabs the gun and stands by the door, waiting for Dara to get back. The door swishes open which causes Kimberley to "eep" as a gun is put right in her face.

"Sorry." Dara lower's her new gun and hoilsters it. "I wasn't aware you would be next to the door."

"That's okay. How are you planning on getting us out of here?"

"Do, you have some Stargate addresses in there?" Dara askes as she points to the tablet.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because it makes it easier for my plan to work."

"And the plan is?"

"We hijack a Puddle Jumper and fly it through the gate or two."

"Isn't there a slight problem with that?"

"That is?"

"We don't have the ATA gene."

"Don't need it. The Asurans don't have it and they can fly and use the machines of the Ancients. I'm betting the nanites give off a frequency that mimic the ATA Gene."

Kimberley smacks her forhead and mumbles, "Why didn't I think of that."

Dara just smirks at Kimberley and slowly begins to move out. "I blame the situations."

They managed to make it half way towards the Puddle Jumper bay before they ran into some resistance. After a few tense moments, they manage to clear out the Asurans before moving on. Soon, they managed to make it to the Jumper Bay. They were about to chose which Puddle Jumper to steal, when Asuran John steps out of the shadows. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to leave."

Both Dara and Kimberley pull out their guns and point it at Asuran John. "Who's stopping us?" Kimberley asks.

"I can." John steps closer towards the girls, causing them to take a step back.

Dara holds up her new gun and made sure it was set to the Asuran Kill setting. "How about I kill you and we continue on."

"You wouldn't do that." Asuran John smirks.

"And why is that?"

"Because I know you don't want to kill me. Deep down it'll hurt you. Having to see that fact that you'll be killing someone that looks way to much like the person you care about." Asuran John smirks even more and looks straight at Dara. He takes another step towards the girls.

"Wrong!" Dara fires off her gun and watches as Asuran John crumbles into silver dust. "They must not know me as well as they think they do."

"Why would you do that?"

"That wasn't John, that was an Asuran. I can tell the differance. For being mind probers, they should know that."

"Maybe they can't tell the differance between your actual personality or the ones you see on TV."

"We should get out of here and fast," Dara says as she hoilsters her gun.

"Eeny, Meenie, Minney, Moe!" Kimberley exclaims as she picks the Puddle Jumper.

They run over to the Puddle Jumper and Dara slams her hand on to the back hatch open button. Dara turns around, pointing her gun out towards the Bay area, covering Kimberley as she ran into the Puddle Jumper. Dara moves backwards into the Puddle Jumper, hits the button to close the back hatch, then runs up front, and then takes the second seat. "Are you sure that you can drive this thing?" Dara asks.

"Not a problem, right? It goes by on how you think. If I think just right, it'll work."

"In therory. Yeah."

"So, where to Captain."

"Not the Captain, Co-Captain. You're driving. Anyways, give me that tablet."

"Here." Kimberley hands Dara the tablet.

Dara begins to scan through the tablet, looking at all the gate addresses. "All you have to do is get us carefully out of our parking spot. I'll then punch in a gate address."

"Okay!"

Kimberley slowly pulls the Puddle Jumper out of it's parking spot, into the bay area. Dara manages to find a gate address and puts it in. It was then the automatic controls took over. The Puddle Jumper lowers itself down into the gate room. They could see as the Asurans ran around in the control room.

"What do you think you're doing, hen?" asks the Asuran Carson.

"Making our great get away," Kimberley replies.

"Have a problem with that?" Dara adds.

"Yes, I do," Asuran Carson replies. "We put a lot of investment in you two."

"Sorry about that. Maybe you invested too much," Kimberley quips.

"That's what you get when you gamble. You win some, you lose some. You lost big!" Dara snorts.

Without warning, the Puddle Jumper shoots through the gate.

* * *

"Incoming Wormhole Activation!" exclaims Rodney.

"Do we have an IDC?" asks Col. Carter.

"No, but we have a radio signal."

"Put it through."

"-not sure if they'll even respond. We're taking a long shot here."

Col. Carter gives Rodney a confused look and he shrugs, not knowing what was going on. "This is Col. Samantha Carter. May I ask who is speaking?"

"Holy Crap! I didn't think this idea would work!"

"Wait, Dara, you went on with this plan and you didn't even know if it would work?"

"Sorry, Kimberley, but I had to do something."

"This is Col. Samantha Carter. Please respond."

"Oh, sorry, Col. Carter. This is Dara Baldwin. Um, I'm sure you don't know me, but maybe if you ask John and his team, they might. Atleast I'm hoping this is the reality that the ones we met are here."

Col. Carter looks towards Rodney, couldn't believe their luck.

"I don't believe it!" Rodney exclaims.

"Actually, I do happen to know you," Col. Carter say back over the radio.

"You do? How?" the one that sounded like Kimberley asked.

"Sometime ago, you two, plus a two girls named Catherine and Len showed up on Catherine's home made Puddle Jumper."

"Home made Puddle Jumper?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but trust me when I say it's true."

"Anyways," Dara says, trying to get her mind back on track. "We wanted to talk to you. So, if you want, come through the gate and we can have a little Pow Wow."

"We actually come bearing gifts too," Kimberley adds.

Col. Carter, being surprised by the offer, slowly responds. "Give us some time. We have to evaluate the situation, then we'll send you what we're going to do."

"Well, I hate to be a downer, but you'll have about two hours."

"Two hours? It seems a little weird that you're going to give us a time limit."

"Sorry, about that. We're trying to be safe and keep moving."

"Okay, then. We'll get back to you."

* * *

"Doesn't anyone think we're walking into a trap?" Rodney asks nerviously.

John just glances over at Rodney, as he fiddled with his vest and gun. "Look, it maybe a trap, it may not be. That's why we're sent as an advance guard."

"Yeah, well I don't like it," Rodney retorts.

John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney continued to walk through the field towards the destination that was given to them.

"Why couldn't they have parked closer to the gate?" Rodney begins to question again.

"I believe it's because of the same reason they gave us the time limit," Teyla imputted trying to get Rodney to quiet down.

Just as they were walking by, a Puddle Jumper uncloaked, causing the team to jump and point their guns towards the back openned hatched. They could see Kimberley standing there waving and Dara just sitting there casually. Dara gives off a small wave and says, "Hi, ya."

John kind of slowly lowers his gun. "So, you wanted to talk and have gifts, I believe."

"Wow, straight towards the presents. No, hi, how are you?"

"Hi, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Dara says back.

"Now that the pleasentries are over, there was something you wanted to talk about with us."

"Why, yes. Kimberley."

Kimberley grabs the tablet and begins to pull up some information, but doesn't show it to the team. "As you may know, sometime back Len, Dara and I were in an Asuran Atlantis."

"Actually, no we didn't," snipes Rodney.

"Okay, um." Kimberley now gives a confused look towards Dara.

Dara shrugs her shoulders and gives her this motion, meaning 'what can I say'. "I chalk it up to being secretive to much."

"Well, um, at one point Dara and I were captured. Of coarse they wanted to know how we got there, so they, uh.."

"Probed your minds," John adds in.

"Actually, I had it done twice," Dara throws in.

"When we woke up, we decided to wreck havoc."

"Yes, yes. Get to the point!" Rodney exclaims.

"Well, while getting intell I found out that we're not real."

"Speak for yourself, Kimberley. I'm sure as heck real."

"I'm a little confused here," John says.

Dara leans forward in her seat. "Basically, we are flesh and blood copies of the actual Kimberley and Dara. One, no two, major differances between them and us are our memory time frame and a crap load of nanites in our bodies."

This causes the team to step back and point their weapons at the two girls.

Dara stands up, causing them to swing their weapons at her. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. We think they're going to use us to track you guys down. Hence the time limit and the meeting here."

"They could be here any minute!" Rodney says, with a little terror in his voice.

"I highly doubt that," Dara reponds.

"Yeah, whys that?" Ronon asks.

Kimberley smiles, as if she was holding a secret. "Because of the presents we brought you."

"You keep mentioning these presents, but you don't seem to have anything," Rodney snaps back. Kimberley tosses the tablet towards Rodney, which he fumbles around for a second before he manages to save it. "That's it? I have plenty of these back on Atlantis. Heck, I even have one on my back right now."

"Yes, but that has some information about the Asurans. Hopefully you can use that to your advantage," Kimberley says.

"If not," Dara adds as she reaches for a messager bag in the over head bin. She slowly walks out and holds it towards John. "These will."

John makes a motion to Ronon, who points his gun towards Dara. John slowly goes over and opens the bag. Carefully he pulls out one of three large, wrapped objects. Slowly, he unwraps it to reveal a glowing ZPM.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rodney asks with such excitement, that he almost drops the tablet Kimberley had just given him.

Dara smiles and looks at Rodney. "One fully powered Zero Point Module? Yeah. So, is the other two."

"Other two?"

"Are you saying that we now have three fully powered ZPMs?" John asks.

"Yeah. That's why we know that it may take the Aurans a little bit of time, before they begin to get us," Dara adds with a smirk.

"Speaking of which," Kimberley adds in. "We should probably go."

"You're right." Dara carefully hands the bag to John and begins to walk up the ramp.

"You know, you can come to Atlantis," John throws out.

Dara stops and turns partly to look at him. "Sorry, no. Like it was said. They made us, to get to you. With the information we know, we'll know when it's safe to come out of the wood work."

"Where will you go?" Teyla questions.

Dara just shrugs a little. "I figured we'd jump through a few gates, leave the Puddle Jumper, take a few more gates, then position ourselves to where we can get the best intell at what you guys are up too."

"Seems a little complicated," John adds in.

Dara stops at the hatch openning and smiles as the hatch door begins to close. "Don't worry, John Sheppard. We'll see you again."


	6. It's All Just the Beginning

Dara sat up with a gasp. She had woken up with a sharp pain on her left hand side. Carefully she reaches under her pajama top and feels the scar on her side. She had a feeling that she twisted her body funny again, causing the pain to shoot through her and woke her up.

Carefully she swings her feet over the edge of her bed and sits there for a minute. She was tired. This was becoming a common occurance, that she beganning to think that it was actually getting worse. Looking at her alarm clock, she realised that she had only been asleep for a couple of hours. It wouldn't have been so bad if she had to go to work, but tomorrow was her day off. This was the time she was suppose to be catching up on her sleep, so she can handle the lack of sleep on work nights.

After a while her thought process began to go back to why her side was in so much pain. Sure, she didn't blame Kimberley for the accident that caused the wound, but because of it her thoughts always traveled back towards that point to were she did blame Kimberley for telling Michael everything. She hated the thought that Michael knew what he did. Sure, it was an alternate future Michael, but he was smart. She wouldn't put it past him to figure something out, that would effect the people she knew now.

Thinking back to the previous fact that she was off tomorrow, she finally decided enough was enough. Getting up for the day, she heads down stairs and grabs a pair of clothes. Quickly, she changes, grabs her keys, and heads out towards a dusty light blue, beat up van. She gets the back hatch to open and walks in. Hitting the back hatch button, she makes her way to the front of the Puddle Jumper as the door closed. As she sits down, her hands begins to touch the controls, causing the Puddle Jumper to key up. Once she was sure that everything was in working order, she begins to steer the Puddle Jumper up and into the air.

It didn't take her long to fly into space, towards the moon, then to the "dark side" of the moon. Carefully she positions her Puddle Jumper in the right spot, then punches in a code that would uncloak the Stargate that was now in perment geo-synchised orbit around the moon. Once the Stargate's cloak disappeared, she quickly puts in the gate address she knew would work. The gate whirls to life and soon she stared, smiling, at an active event horizon.

Without even thinking, she was soon running on instinct. Shooting the Puddle Jumper through the event horizon, she soon comes out on the other side. Quickly and swiftly, she pulls up so she wouldn't crash into one of the five moons that orbit the planet M35-117. She knew this one couldn't been seen by the unaided eye on the planet. Carefully, she manuevers around the moon. Just as she crested around the "far side" of it, her radio keys up.

"This is Col. Samantha Carter of Atlantis. Please identify yourself."

"Wow! That was fast," Dara said more to herself. She reaches over and hits a few buttons, to open up a channel. "This is Dara of ummm... In my home made Puddle Jumper. Anyways, why are you so open about where you are at. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be hidding?"

"We are hidding," Col. Carter responded. "Imagen my surprise, when the Atlantis sensors picked you up and regesistered your IFF code."

"An IFF code? Okay, I don't know anything about that. Even if Catherine... Never mind I think I know the answer."

"Let me guess, she installed the IFF code producer on the ship and when she got "lost" in the labs, she installed a program into the system to see it."

"That's what I'm thinking," Dara responded.

"It's nice to see you again, but is there a reason for this social visit?"

Dara reaches over and lightly touches her scar. "Yeah, can I land and tell you about it?"

"Yes, you can. You can't use the Jumper bay, unfortunely. We are kind of in the middle of fixing one of the Jumpers, if you would like to land on one of the piers."

"No, thanks. I think I know where to go."

Soon Dara was flying through the atmosphere, almost on top of Atlantis. Without any warning, she drives the Puddle Jumper into the water and gets it into the secondary Jumper bay. Pushing the right commands into the console she was able to tell the Jumper bay to drain itself of the water. Once that was done, she makes her way to the back hatch, and makes it open. As she walks out, she could see Col. Sheppard, Dr. McKay, and Col. Carter standing in the outer bay room looking at her. Hitting the outside button once, she walks towards the pressurized door, as the back hatch closed. Before she got near the door, John already had it open, allowing her to walk in.

"How did you manage to get the secondary Jumper bay to repressurized?" Rodney asked.

Dara just smirks, as she just glances back. "Yeah, I had Catherine install it. I figure it would be really useful, incase of an emergcy."

"That's brilliant!" Rodney exclaims. He slowly makes his way towards the Puddle Jumper, when Dara manages to grab him with her left hand.

"Sorry, Rodney. Can't let you go near that thing. I don't think Catherine would like it if you break it."

"I'm not going to break it," Rodney manages to say back, but trys to go towards it.

Dara gives a major pull, not even thinking what hand she was using. Without warning, pain begins to shoot through her side, causing her to react by letting go of Rodney and grabbing at her resent battle wound.

John steps forward, not knowing what to do, as Col. Carter asks, "Are you okay?"

Dara grits her pain way for that moment and straightens up. "Fine at the moment. That's one of the two major reasons I came for this visit."

"The other is?" John asks.

"Well, it's kind of linked with this one."

"Maybe, we should get you to Dr. Keller," suggests Col. Carter.

"Mostly why I came, but it can wait. It only hurts when I twist in different directions, to quickly."

"With knowing you, is a lot," replies John.

Col. Carter watches as Dara just rolls her eyes. "Just to be on the safe side, I insist we take you to Dr. Keller.

Sighing, Dara says, "Okay, fine. I do want to talk to you later about the information I have to tell you."

"You're actually going to tell us something?" John asked surprised.

"It's something really bad, isn't it?" Rodney asks.

"Now, McKay, it may not be," John replies back.

"Come on John! She never tells us anything, even the important stuff, unless something really bad has happened."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Rodney," Dara says as she heads towards the infirmary with John and Col. Carter.

"It is!" Rodney says, a little freaked out, then runs after them.

* * *

Dara laid on her side as Jennifer had her shirt pulled up so far to get a good look at her scar. "Who did this operation?" she asked.

Dara winced a little when Jennifer prodded it a little bit. "Someone that wanted it done really fast. He had more important stuff on his mind."

"What could be more important, than the health of his patient."

"You would be surprised," Dara calmly replies.

"So, what's a matter, Doc?" John asks as he watches Dr. Keller pulls Dara's shirt back down.

"Well, the person that did the operation did a rush job. There is a piece of shrapnel in there that are causing a lot of problems. I can do some surgery and remove the piece. It shouldn't be too hard. The body is trying to remove it itself, but the position it's in, it keeps doing damage everytime she moves."

"Nice," Dara says as she carefully sits up.

"It shouldn't take much. I only have to put you under for about a half an hour tops, do a quick surgery, remove the piece of shrapnel, and you'll have about a week recovery time."

"A week?"

"Yes, a week. I have to make sure there is no major infections and to make sure that the wound is properly healed."

Dara sighes and places her head in hands. Carefully she rubs her forehead, then looks up. "Can I schedule the surgery for a couple of months later?"

Jennifer shakes her head. "I don't really recommand it. Is there a reason that you don't want to get that out of you now?"

Dara carefully leans back on to her hands. "Well, I was thinking about work. I'm only off, well today. I figure I could put in for vaction and do it then."

"You do know that you are actually causing more damage, everytime you move, right?"

"Not to mention the lack of sleep," Dara mutters to herself.

"Okay. I hate to say it, but as your doctor, I'm not letting you out of here, until you get that surgery done."

"Wait, what?" Dara jumps off the bed and looks at Jennifer. "You can't stop me. You're not my doctor!"

"Actually, I am now. I can stop you from leaving. If this thing is effecting your sleep habit, it has to be removed."

Dara looks at Jennifer, then over at John. "Help me out here, John."

John looks at Dara, then he looks at Dr. Keller. Not liking the look that Dr. Keller was giving him, he shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm not getting in the middle of that descion. Exspecially since that Dr. Keller has her mind set."

Dara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I hate you, Sheppard."

John just smirks. "Yeah, sorry about that. If you need me, I won't be here." With that, John just walks out.

"Alright," Dara says as she looks at Jennifer. "Can I do one thing?"

"That is?"

"I need to get back to my reality-"

Without even letting Dara finish, Jennifer was already shaking her head. "No, because you probably go straight back home and not come back until months later."

"So send someone with me. I just need to go through my gate and get around the moon. I can make a cell phone call from there. I just have to call work, let them them know I'm going to be out for about for a week, on sick pay. I also have to call my family and let them know I'm staying with a friend for the week."

"Okay, fine. I will give you that." Jennifer reaches up to her ear and hits the ear piece. "Col. Sheppard, you can come back. I have something I need you to help me do."

* * *

Dara positioned the Puddle Jumper just right on the other side of the moon. Glancing back, she takes in the "small" group that sat in her Puddle Jumper. Jennifer had managed to get herself, John, Ronon, and Rodney all on the Puddle Jumper. John was there, to makes sure everything went right. Ronon was there, mostly to stun Dara if she decided to take off to Earth. Jennifer was there to make sure Dara was okay, should it came down to the fact that Ronon had to stun her. Rodney was there to make sure they got control of the Puddle Jumper, if it did come to Ronon stunning her.

Sighing, Dara puts in the code to uncloak the gate, then punches in the gate address. She could tell that Rodney was hovering over her, trying to get all the information that he could. She would have said something, but figured it would be safer that someone knew the information. Once the gate connected, she drove the Puddle Jumper through the gate. As they came out the other end, she could hear the group freaking out. Mostly because of the fact, they thought they were going to crash into the surface of the moon. Dara easily adjusted her steering and avoids it. Smiling she could hear them all breathing hard, as she moved over the edge and started to pick up radio contact.

She gets the Puddle Jumper to move into an orbit and makes her way to the back of the Jumper.

"Whoa, wait! Where are you going?" Rodney questions with some fear in his voice.

"I'm going to make a phone call, duh!"

"Shouldn't you be driving the Puddle Jumper, so we don't crash?"

Dara rolls her eyes at that question. "Rodney, please! We're in orbit." Fishing around in the over head bins, she finds a cell phone that was cloned to act like her actual cell phone. That way, know one knew the differance, in case she had to use when she didn't have her real one on her. Without waiting for anyone to question on what she was doing she quickly dialed the numbers she needed and even quicker explained to the people on what she would be "doing".

"Are we good to go?" Ronon asks as he watches Dara chucks the phone back into the over head bin.

"Yeah," Dara replies as she takes her seat and sets the Puddle Jumper up all over again.

"Are we going to come scarey close to the moon on the other side?" John asks as he looks out the window.

"Yup," Dara says with a smirk. "Len thought of it. Said it would make a good defense, should someone tried to use it. If they're not expecting it, they'll smash themselves into the moon."

"You guys are sick and twisted indiviuals!" Rodney exclaims.

"You have no idea," Dara says with a smile as she shoots through the open Stargate.

* * *

Dara sat on the infirmary bed, with her knees to her chest, waiting for the staff to come in a finish prepping her. As she sat there, John came in and headed towards her. "How are you doing?"

Sighing, Dara stretches her legs out, and looks at John. "Sucky. I really don't want to be here at the moment. Can't you convince Dr. Keller to do the operation after I brief you guys on the information I have?"

John shakes his head. "No go. Even Col. Carter said you need to do this operation before you can do anything major."

"Sitting in a chair and telling you guys about the information isn't major!"

"Yeah, both of them aren't seeing it that way."

"Great." Dara then looks over at John and notices he is still standing there. "You're still here, why?"

John just smirks over towards her. "I set up a guest room for you. I'm also trying to see if I can find some clothes that might fit you, but I'm not sure if that can happen."

Dara just shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. In case of an emergcy I have a few spare outfits in the Puddle Jumper."

"Enough for a whole week?" John questions.

"Probably enough for a month. I like to be prepared for anything. Even a really shitty day."

"I would say that's prepared."

"Okay, Colonel," Dr. Keller said as she came in. "You should probably go now. She's about to go into surgery."

"Good luck," John throws out really quick, before he takes off.

"Yeah, thanks..." Dara mutters out loud.

"Don't worry, he'll be back," Jennifer says with a smile.

Dara gives her a funny look and asks, "And how do you know that?"

"Trust me."

* * *

Dara woke up, groggy, from the medicated sleep she was resently in. It took a minute or two for her mind to clear up enough to remember why she was in that position. Slowly and carefully she reaches down, lifts the hospital shirt up, and lightly touches a gauze bandage. Figuring it wouldn't be wise to mess with it, she carefully puts the shirt back down and looks around. Imagen her surprised when she sees Ronon walks in, holding a towel to his right bicep.

"Should I even ask?" Dara hollors out towards him.

Ronon just looks over at her. "Just a sparring accident. Happens all the time. You?"

Dara kind of glances down at the wound that was there. "Got my ass kicked by my own Puddle Jumper. Let's just say, I taught it a thing or two."

Ronon just nods towards her. She watched as he made his way towards Dr. Keller, mostly to get his insident fixed up. As she laid there, her mind began to drift off into a sleep, when a voice jerks her awake.

"Dara, are you awake?" Jennifer asks.

Dara blinks a couple times, trys to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Jennifer. "Yeah, kind of am. Just started to doze off there, but nothing major."

Jennifer carefully lifts a little of her shirt up, to peer at the bandage. "I hope you do know, not to mess around with this, right?"

"Yeah. I do know better."

"Good. I just figured I would ask and tell you not too."

"Thanks. When can I get out this bed."

"In about a day."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. I don't want you wandering around so soon after your operation."

"What am I suppose to do?"

"Anything you can do, without getting out of that bed, or getting into trouble."

Sighing out loud, Dara manages out a "Fine!", before Jennifer walks away with a smile. Dara watched as the infirmary personal and other people came and went. After a while she figured it would be better just to sleep, until it was safe for her to move around.

The next thing she knows, it was morning and her side was a little painful. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing, she carefully reaches down and touches it. Once she figured out that it wasn't bleeding and it was just getting her to notice, because the pain meds were wearing off. Slowly and painfully she swings her feet over the edge of the bed, wincing all the way. Sliding down the bed, her bare feet touched the cold floor of the infirmary. Quickly she makes her way towards the bathroom, to do her business, and get it over with before anyone on the medical staff caught her out of bed.

When she was finally done, she made her way back to her bed, only to stop when she seen John sitting there. "You really shouldn't be up and about," John says with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. Get out of my bed." Dara watched as he slid off the bed and makes a gesture towards it, as if to say it was all hers. Carefully, she crawls up into the bed, trying not to do that much movement around the wound area. "Can I help you?" she asked when she finally got herself comportable.

"I just wanted to let you know, if Dr. Keller says it's okay, we'll have that meeting you want. It'll be in the conferance room, when you want it. I don't have to go on any away missions today."

"Oh, happy days?"

"Oh, don't sound so thrilled."

"I'll try not too."

About that time, Dr. Keller came walking over looking at the two of them. "Colonel, I hope you're not bothering my patient?"

"No, not me, Doc." John raises up his hand, as if to say good-bye, then takes off.

"I swear, sometimes that man can be difficult."

"You're telling me," Dara says as she slouches down lower on her bed.

"So, how is my patient doing?" Jennifer asks, as she went over towards Dara's side.

"Okay, I guess," Dara responds as Jennifer gets a good look at her bandages. The next thing Dara feels is Jennifer pulling some of the tape off the bandage. "What are you doing?"

"I have to get a look at your stitches. I want to make sure that you didn't pull them when you went to the bathroom."

"You saw that?"

"It's my infirmary. You can't get anything past me in here."

"Oh!" Dara's face gets a little red, then clears up really quick.

Jennifer carefully puts the bandages back and smiles. "You seem to be doing fine. I guess I can't stop you, if you want to walk around. It shouldn't hurt. It'll give you a chance to stretch out a little." Dara sits up a little, as if to get up out of bed. "Before I let you," Jennifer starts to say, getting a look from Dara, "you should have breakfast first."

Sitting back, Dara just rolls her eyes. "Okay. If you insist."

"I do actually. You know, Rodney loves it when he gets food."

Dara just smirks. "Rodney loves to eat and he, for some reason, loves infirmary food."

"Well, I'll go and have someone send you some. You're not allowed to leave until you finished your plate."

"That's harsh, Dr. Keller. Not even my mom did that!"

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not your mom. I'm your doctor."

As Jennifer walked away, Dara sat there in boredium. After a few minutes, a nurse walks in over with a tray and the food table. Once the nurse walked away, Dara enhaled her food as fast as she could, just so she didn't have to wait any longer. A couple minutes later, Jennifer walked up to check up on her.

"I see you're done with your food."

"Yeah, I am. I do know the tricks."

"Tricks?"

"The faster you eat your food, the longer it takes you to be full. Also, I want to get out of here."

Jennifer just crosses her arms over her chest, looks at Dara, then at the empty tray. Slowly she smiles and says, "Alright, go on now."

"Thanks, Dr. Keller!" Dara exclaims as she gets out of the bed and starts to run off.

"Be careful with the stitching!" Jennifer barely yells out after her. Shaking her head, she turns and head back to her office. "She is prefect for John."

* * *

John had heard that Dara was let out of the infirmary, just recently. He was hoping to find her and show her to her guest quaters. The only place he could figure she would be at, was her Puddle Jumper. When he reached the outer Bay room, he stopped in amazement. In the inner Puddle Jumper bay, Dara was in her Puddle Jumper. The hatch was down and she was just finishing up changing. Not like he seen much of anything, mostly just her back, just before she got her shirt on, but it was enough for him. Shaking his head, to clear his thoughts, he realised that would probably be dangerous to his health if she found him standing there at this point. Quickly, he doubles back, so far, and starts heading back to Bay. She was just coming out of the Outer Bay, when he came "acrossed" her. "There you are."

Raising her left eyebrow, she gives him this look. "Here I am?"

"I figured you would want to go to the guest quarters. Mostly to unpack or to change." He gives her this once over, remembering how she looked in that red dress, from New Years. It was kind of hard to remember sometimes that she had nice woman's body, exspecially with the big shirt and baggy pants. Getting his thoughts back on track, he manages to say quickly, "Though, I see you already have."

"Hospital outfits are not comportable. Also, they are a little itchy."

"Tell me about it."

"Is Col. Carter free?"

John glances over at her. "Yes, I believe so. Why?"

"Well, I currently don't need my guest quarters, so why not just update you guys now."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah."

* * *

John begins to pace on his side of the room, as Col. Carter just stared at Dara. "Are you sure about this?" Col. Carter asks.

"Yeah, pretty sure. Kimberley is sweet and all, but she doesn't know when to shut the hell up."

John stops his pacing and asks, "How much did she tell him, exactly."

Dara just shrugs towards. "I'm not sure. I was kind of out of it at the time. Let's just say, Michael was the one that did my operation."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Col. Carter asks.

"Why didn't you inform us of this in the first place?" John almost demands.

"Look, a lot of stuff was happening at once. We had to get out of there, in a hurry, and at the time, we thought we had to correct the timeline."

"You thought?"

"Yeah, come to find out, it hadn't happened yet. Interesting enough, it came about because Kimberley and I told you guys to much."

Col. Carter sighes and goes over her thoughts, before asking, "So, what are you planning on doing?"

Dara sits forwards and places her hands together. "Well, I was hoping to move in and bring Kimberley along."

"Excuse me?" Col. Carter asks, as she sits up a little taller.

"Are you joking with us?" asked John. He just gives her this look, as if he couldn't believe what she just said.

Dara just shakes her head. "No, I'm not. The thing is, I don't trust Michael. Sure, he maybe from an alternate future, but I won't put it past him. In order to combat what he may do, I'm hoping to help by moving in. This way I can keep tabs on what's going on, that way if something comes up, I can tell you then. I can tell you what needs to be known, but not give you guys everything."

"Which would cause the same timeline all over again," responds Col. Carter.

"Exactly."

"Is this a really good idea?" John asks.

"Not really," Col. Carter says as she looks at Dara.

"Look, if it helps, I can give you guys something, if you want. I'm just trying to help."

"If this information is true and we do decide to let you stay, how long do you expect to be staying?"

"Hold on," John starts to say. "You're not seriously entertaining this idea?"

Dara just glances at John, then looks back at Col. Carter. "I figured about two years would be good. After that we can evalulate how it went and go from there."

"What is this information, that you have?" Col. Carter asks, trying what she could.

Dara just shakes her head. "I'm not telling."

"Maybe you should. It could be very informative," John says, trying to con something out of her.

"I doubt it. What I know will come to pass, but what I'll tell you, will speed it up a little."

Col. Carter clasps her hands together and looks over towards Lt. Col. Sheppard. She then looks over towards Dara. Looking down, she says towards Dara, "Can you please step out and give us a minute. Let us discuss what you just told us."

Dara stands up and nods. "Sure, not a problem." Quickly she walks out, leaving the two of them alone, to discuss all that they know.

* * *

Dara stood outside in the hallway, leaning against the wall. She watched as the door opens, letting John Sheppard out of the room. He spots her and head over towards her. "Can you please come back in?"

She pushes herself away from the wall and smiles. "Sure, John. Not a problem." She follows John into the confress room. She goes over to her chair and sits down.

Col. Carter looks at her, then at John. John carefully sits down, but gave the appearance that he wanted to keep pacing. "We've consider your idea and we decided to go along with it."

"You're serious, right?" Dara asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Yes," says John. "We are serious. We can't resist the amount of intell that you can give us. Though, we are not happy about the fact that Kimberley has to come along, but I'm betting her not coming is a deal breaker."

Dara stands up and reaches into her pocket. She pulls out a piece of paper and sits back down. "Exactly."

"May I ask, why is she coming along as well?"

Dara looks at Col. Carter and sighes. "Mostly to keep her out of trouble, not to mention I kind of want to teach her the action of her consequences."

"Ahhh," John said. He then looks at the piece of paper that Dara was fiddling around with in her hand. "What's that?"

"Oh, this? This has the gate address of one Carson Beckett."

"Carson Beckett? Correct me if I'm wrong, but he died a few months back. Even you knew about it."

"Yes, I know about it. I also know that Wraith have the technology to clone things. About a year ago, I think, Michael had Carson in a very bad position. Michael had gotten the right samples he need to make one clone."

"This seems a little far fetched," Col. Carter said, as she looked at John.

"Actually, I can prove it. If Jennifer Keller is currently dealing with a sickness that is spreading through the galaxy."

"She is currently," replies John. "She actually just got wind of it resently."

"Tell her to compare the notes to the sickness with the Hoffian Drug. She'll find it'll be very simular. Correct me if I'm wrong, but only Carson as the ability to duplicate the drug, as well as the medical knowledge to refine it."

"She's got a point," John says.

Dara just looks at John and says, "Of coarse I have a point. I know what I'm talking about."

Col. Carter reaches up and presses on her ear piece. "Dr. Keller, are you there."

Dara watched as Col. Carter seems to be listening to the other end of the line.

"Dara suggests you look at that resent plague and compare it with the Hoffian Drug."

After a few minutes, Col. Carter looks at Dara. Tilting her head to the side, she studies Dara as if she was seeing her for the first time. "Dr. Keller has comfirmed that it is the Hoffian Drug. She also says it has been refined too."

"Really?" John asks as he looks towards Dara.

"Yeah. It has-"

"A 30% mortality rate, instead of the original 50%," Dara says, interupting Col. Carter.

"Yes, that's exactally right."

"Starting to believe me now?" Dara asks with this look on her face.

"Yes, more so than ever," Col. Carter replies.

"I was wondering. Is there any possiable way I can go with you, when you go to rescue him?" Dara asks.

"Will you hold out of the gate address if we say no?" John asks back.

"No." Dara shakes her head furiously, trying to get her point across. Carefully she slides the paper towards John. "I promised it, in good faith and what not."

* * *

Dara stood on the second tier, looking down over the Stargate. She was getting worried, mostly because of the fact it felt like they were taking longer than they should. Being so intent on the Stargate, Dara didn't pay attention to what was happening on around her.

"Still waiting?" Dr. Keller asked, causing Dara to jump out of fright.

Making sure she still had her heart in her chest, Dara nods. "Yeah. I'm a little worried. I'm hoping I didn't lead them into a trap. I double checked all my information, before coming here, but what if I'm wrong."

"Don't be like that. You can only do with what you have. Not to mention, the teams knew the risks when they went."

"I still can't help, but to worry." Dara just glances over at Jennifer, hoping to see if her point was getting across. All Jennifer was doing was giving her a reasuring smile. "Oh, when Carson comes through, do a complete blood work. Check in his ki-"

"In his Kidney's for the Wraith compound. It's mostly what's keeping his cells from degrading. I know. You've already told me about five times now."

"Sorry, I know. I just can't help myself."

About that time the Stargate keys up, indicating an off world activation. "We've got Col. Sheppard's IDC."

Dr. Keller signals down to her team to move in a little closer, just before she turns and takes off down the stairs herself. Dara watched as Ronon and Rodney came through the Stargate, carrying the prone form of Carson between. John and Teyla, as well as Lorne's team, soon followed after them.

John watched as Ronon and Rodney put Carson on the gurney that the medical team had brought up for them. As the medical team ran off with Carson, to the infirmary, John looked up to the second story tier where Dara was standing.

Sighing in relief, Dara steps away from the railing and walks down to meet John, on the way to the infirmary. "How did it go?" Dara asked out of nervousness.

"We ran into some trouble, but managed to get through it. Rodney was able to get some intel off the computers, before rescueing Carson."

"Good. I was a little worried."

"You shouldn't be," John says with a smirk. "We had your information to go on."

Dara stops and watches John's back as he walks away. "He shouldn't be, so smug on my info. I can't always be right." Sighing, Dara shakes her head and heads towards her room, hoping it would be all good days like this.

* * *

The week passed, pretty uneventfully for Dara. She had managed to learn to navigate the city without anyone helpping her along. She also got to spend some actual time with some of the residents that lived on Atlantis. As the week ended, she was packing the last of her clothes back into the Puddle Jumper. She watched as John headed her way and then lightly knocked on the side of the Jumper to get her attention.

"Hey, so you're off, huh?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll be back, with Kimberley, by the end of the next month. So, you won't have time to enjoy the silence of me not being here."

John gives off a smirk. "You would be surprise at what I could do, with that time."

Dara grabs an empty pop can and angrily throws it at John. "Sheppard!"

Laughing, he takes off out of the Secondary Jumper Bay. He didn't get much farther than the outer room though, because he watched as she closed the hatch, refilled the inner bay room, and left. "See you then," he says to the now empty water filled room.


	7. Best Present EVER!

As the clock stuck midnight Kimberley stood up from her computer, still a little wigged out that Dara wasn't on, like she hadn't been for a few days, and traveled down stairs, smiling at her family and her birthday cake.

"Twenty two Kimbo. Never thought you would make it." Her brother joked, grabbing her for a hug.

Kimberley's lips twitched into a smile. "Thanks guys. So...where's the presents?"

A knock at the front door caused them to all whirl round and stare at it.

Slowly Kimberley left the living room and unlocked the door, removing the bolt before opening it. "Oh my fricking god!"

"Kimberley!" Her mom shouted, crossing the hallway with her cake, dropping it at the sight of their visitor.

Sparky barked up at them innocently, wagging her tail as the heavy snow continued its evil torrent of falling.

Sparky, the same dog who died months ago.

"Hey there's a note on her." Kimberley's mother pointed out. "It's in code."

"That looks familiar." Kimberley's dad commented, looking over the note as he rubbed his beard. "It looks like it's from that show you watch with that Sarah girl."

"Dara." Kimberley corrected automatically, hugging the fur off of her dog. 'God I missed you girl.'

"Uh, Kimberley, what does the note say?" Her brother asked.

Kimberley wiped her eyes after letting go of the family pet. Carefully she took the note from her dad and frowned. "Its defo Wraith."

"How do you know that?" Dad asked, looking up from giving Sparky a sweet.

"See that funky swiggle, that's a D." She explained. "I'm gonna go decode this."

"Take Sparky out first." Mum ordered.

"Can't he do it?" She whined, pointing to her brother.

"No he has work tomorrow." Her dad shook his head.

"But it's my birthday!" She exclaimed.

"Don't make me make it your death day!" Her mom threatened.

Everyone looked at her. Kimberley blinked. "Seriously mom, death day?"

Her mother shrugged.

o0o

'Hey Kimbo, I'm sorry I cannot be there for your birthday, but I hope this present makes it up to you. You know you could not have given your self a better present X.'

After she finished translating the note, Kimberley stared at it. 'Holy crap, how do I top this present?'

With a shrug, she prepared to go to bed, thinking about what happened the previous August.

o0o

_Kimberley passed outside the room Michael was operating on Dara in, turning her head every few seconds to look at the door. 'Oh crap oh crap oh crap, please survive Dara, please! I'll kill you if you don't.'_

_Dizziness over took her and she placed a hand on the Hive wall, breathing deep to let the nausea pass._

_The door swished open, causing her to look up and, forgetting her own health, rush towards the Wraith leader. "How is she, how did it go? Will she be okay, can I see her? What did you do?"_

_Michael opened his mouth to respond and closed it as she continued to talk. Finally having enough he raised his voice. "Kimberley!"_

_She looked at him and blinked a few times, leaning onto the wall after letting go of his leather outfit. "Yes Michael?"_

"_I need your permission to operate on Dara." He asked._

"_Why would-oh yeah, because of what Doctor McStupid head did to you?" Kimberley questioned then answered. "Sure, do what you need to do, just; don't let her die, please."_

"_I shall try." He nodded his head, and was rewarded by her smile._

"_Thank you Michael." Kimberley barely held her self back from hugging him, choosing to lean on the wall of the Hive, closing her eyes for a second._

_Through her closing eyelids, she could see Michael walk back into the infirmary type room._

_Slowly she slid to the ground, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Her head rested on her lower limbs. Taking a deep breath, she tried to stall the tears threatening and hush the headache that was knocking on her head._

_Someone shook Kimberley shoulder, causing her to gasp and sit up. "I wasn't cheating!"_

_Michael frowned at her._

_"Ehh, oops. Sorry." Kimberley smiled at him, the smile fading as he continued to look distantly sad. "Oh crap, what happened? How long was I out for?"_

_"Seven minutes or so." Michael aided her to stand. "My scanners detected that you have a mild concussion."_

_"A mild con-con, oh, okay." Kimberley nodded slowly. "And Dara?"_

_"She is resting comfortably in the lab." Michael diagnosed._

_Kimberley bit her lip. "Look, Michael, you have already done so much for me that I can't really thank you enough" 'or begin to wonder why' "but I was wondering if there was one more thing you could do for me?"_

_Michael cocked his head to the side as he studied her._

_She took his silence as a silent continue. "My dog passed away recently, and I was wondering if you could clone her or bring her back to life?"_

_Michael blinked and looked as though he was thinking it over. "Do you have something of hers?"_

_Kimberley bit the inside of her lip.__'Having the body of the deceased pet, while slightly disturbing, is more useful than having a lock of hair to experiment with.' Michael thought to himself, looking at the black domesticated animal that was laid out on one of his operating tables._

o0o

_Taking his time Michael laid out the different scientific tools he needed, counting that he had enough supplies before scanning the body._

_'It is still alive.' He was shocked. 'There is a faint heart beat, but it is being repressed. The brain waves are as minimal as possible. Blood is going through the body at the slowest rate possible.'_

_As he moved the scanner along the main body parts, he noticed that only the vital parts were receiving blood, the other parts, including the lungs, where effectively dead._

_A thought occurred to Michael. He walked across the room and opened a drawer, selecting a syringe. Re-crossing the room, he picked up the elbow of the dog and inserted the needle, pushing the liquid into the animals' blood stream._

_'If this does not work then there are many different things that can be done.' Michael thought to himself, turning to leave the room, pausing at the soft whine from behind him._

_Changing the direction of his turn Michael stared at the animal as it moved around in sleep, flipping slowly onto its back before becoming overbalanced. It opened its eyes before it flew off the table and onto the ground with a soft yelp._

_"Will you look at that." He found himself saying.__Kimberley glared at her body guard, who she was calling Otto in her head, as he reached over and poked her with a Wraith stunner. "I'm still awake!"_

o0o

_Otto just looked at her._

_"You're secretly enjoying this aren't cha?" Kimberley demanded, moving to cross her arms over her chest._

_"I would enjoy feasting on your flesh more so, but the disgrace that is our commander does not want you harmed." Otto spoke quietly, moving to lean towards her._

_Kimberley shivered._

_"Do I scare you puny human?" He sneered._

_"A little, but your breath is worse than your face." Kimberley snapped, leaning back._

_The guard continued to sneer as he leaned back, watching Kimberley. Michael chose that moment to walk in._

_"Were you successful?" Kimberley asked, jumping up from the chair and running to stop him in the hall. "Did you get her cloned?"_

_"Unfortunately not." Michael looked straight into Kimberley's tear filling eyes._

_"Oh, well, it was worth a shot." She sniffed and tried to smile. "Thank you for trying though, I do appreciate it. Could I have her b-body back please?"_

_"No."_

_"Why the hell not!" Kimberley demanded._

_Michael cocked his head once more. 'I never knew humans to have such quickly changing moods.' "Because the being is currently eating a part of my ship."_

_"Seriously!" Kimberley shrieked._

_Michael nodded._

_"Wait, will that harm her at all?" Kimberley asked, visibly stopping herself from hugging the stuffing out of the Wraith/Human hybrid._

_Michael cocked his head._

_"I would worry about your ship but because it's a living organism I kinda guess that it will re-grow itself..." She trailed off and yawned. "You sure I have a concussion?"_

_Michael nodded his head._

_"Kay." Kimberley bopped her head. "So, what do you do around here for fun?"_

_"I do not understand your question." Michael finally answered._

_Kimberley sighed and leaned on the wall. "Mikey, Mikey, Mikey, you have so much to learn!"_

_"Do not call me Mikey." Michael demanded, moving to grab her arm._

_"Ye-eah, okay-okay!" Kimberley nodded, now completely one hundred percent awake. _

_Michael stared at her before looking down at his hand that was still connected to her arm, and slowly released it. "I apologize."_

_"No, no, it's okay." Kimberley rubbed her arm and tried to smile at him. "I guess after the whole Atlantis thing then that particular nick name would get on our razz."_

_Michael looked at her as if she was speaking a completely different language._

_"I get why it bugs you so much." She tried to explain, and then winced. "Sorry, no pun intended!"_

_Michael continued to look at her. Slowly he blinked. "You are going to confuse me a lot, are you not?"_

_Kimberley could only nod._

_"Tell me about your world?" Michael asked._

_"What do you want to kn-why do you want to know?" Kimberley asked, looking up at him suspiciously._

_"I know you are from an alternate reality, and I am merely interested in the differences that there are between the two." Michael calmly stated._

_"It's Earth. It has billions of people, mostly good, a bunch evil and too many soap operas and day time TV shows." Kimberley shrugged, walking with him as they went to intervene Sparkys lunch._

_Michael cocked his head once more._

_"Doesn't your head get sore doing that?" Kimberley asked, cocking her own head._

_"Where is your planet?" Michael ignored her question._

_"Its, erm, in a galaxy far, far way, in a land before time where the sea weed is always greener, is somebody's else lake!" She giggled._

_"Stop that." He ordered._

_"Okay." She nodded._

_Kimberley looked up from the ground of the ship to see Michael with his thinking face on. Slowly she opened her mouth. "How are you?"_

_"Excuse me?" Michael asked._

_Kimberley blushed. "You saved my dog, and my best friend, and haven't asked for anything in return" 'yet' "so I figure I can at least be polite to ya."_

_"I am, well." Michael responded. "Yourself."_

_"Mild concussion but can't complain." She smiled, bobbing her head, and then turned to look around at the Hive. "Where are we?"_

_"In a Hive ship." He replied._

_Kimberley looked at him funny. "Did you just tell a funny?"_

_Michael opened his mouth and smiled with his teeth's showing, causing her to laugh aloud._

_"Are we heading in any particular direction?" Kimberley asked, whirling a finger around in the air._

_"We are trying to find the ancient city of Atlantis. Do you know its where about?" Michael asked, slowing down as they began to come across sections of the city that were re-growing themselves._

_"Its was supposed to be here, but cause we're technically using a ten year out of data address, its kinda moved on." Kimberley shrugged, and then slapped a hand over her mouth. "I shouldn't have said that!"_

_Something flashed through his eyes. "So, tell me Kimberley, how did you manage to come from Earth to Atlantis? I was under the illusion that there were no Stargates capable of such a travel."_

_"Well..." Kimberley bit her lip. 'If I tell him, we're in trouble. If I don't tell him, he might shove me out an air lock! Wait...' "Do you guys have air locks?"_

_"No." Michael shook his head slightly._

_"Oh, good." Kimberley breathed a sigh of relief._

_"We do not need air locks. If we wish to get rid of someone we merely eat them." He finished._

_Kimberley stared at him. "Are you joking with me?"_

_"Perhaps." He smiled again._

_They stopped walking and talking as a Wraith guard ran past, Sparky hot on their heels._

_"Should I worry for my lieutenant?" Michael asked._

_"I was going to ask the same thing about Sparky!" Kimberley worried._

_"My men will not harm yourself, Dara or Sparky, on my orders or they will have myself to answer to." Michael informed her._

_"Thank you." Kimberley smiled at him. "You have done so much to help us."_

_"And all I ask if your cooperation. I am looking for where Atlantis once was, or the where abouts of Earth." Michael tried again, this time walking her into a wall which began to stick to her. "I am afraid if you do not help me then I will no longer be able to offer you protection for your familiar or friend."_

_"I can't give up Earth, not even for two people I care about." Kimberley tried to shake her head._

_Michael thought for a second. "You're choice at in action with create a reaction that will be most painful."_

_"Huh?" Kimberley scrunched up her eyebrows._

_"There is a tasty morsel that my lieutenant would love to have, that will not put up much of fight in the medical labs." He threatened clearly._

_Kimberley bit her lip. 'WWDW? Tell me to let them suck her dry, but, I'm not Dara, I can't have that on my conscious!'_

_She took a deep breath. "What do you want to know? I'm not the most knowledgful when it comes to our puddle jumper or Stargate, but I know a little."_

_Michael grinned. He beckoned her to follow him._

_Sparky followed Kimberley and Michael, growling as the guard that had been following Kimberley stepped forward, its gun raised._

_"Otto, seriously!" Kimberley glared at him._

_"Leave us." Michael demanded, and laughed softly as Kimberley tried to leave. "Not you."_

_"Oh, right. Sorry." She blushed._

_Michael walked over to a consol and brought out a data pad. "I trust you know how to work one of these devices?"_

_"I'm not too sure..." Kimberley took it from him and began messing about with it. 'I wonder if they have solitaire on this.'_

_"I have opened a text document for you to write on." Michael explained._

_"What information do you want to know?" Kimberley found her self asking._

_"Your gate address for Atlantis and Earth, the defenses of each, the strengths and weaknesses, population, where they are in the galaxies." Michael paused for breath. "Ships in their fleet and their Alpha sites."_

_"Do I look like Picard or Obama?" Kimberley demanded, shaking like a leaf as he extended his feeding hand towards her._

_"I am not expecting miracles, I know how you were." Michael pressed the button on the door and closed them in._

_"Were? Past tense?" She asked._

_"You died." Michael would have shrugged his shoulders if he were human enough._

_"What? How!" She demanded._

_"By my hand." Michael replied instantly._

_"WHAT!" Kimberley screeched. "How? Why!"_

_"Because you were annoying." He turned to her. "Give me the information or I will give the order for your friends to become drained husks."_

_"In a minute!" Kimberley waved her hand at him. "Is that the reason why you killed me? Because I was annoying?"_

_Michael paused before answering. "It was also to rip the heart out of Col. Sheppard."_

_"Crazy psycho Wraith hybrid says what now?" Kimberley looked taken aback._

_"I will give the order to eat your friends." Michael growled._

_"I'm typing, I'm typing!" Kimberley exclaimed as she began to type._

_'What are you doing!' Sparky barked. 'Stop giving the enemy information! Who cares if he kills us- who am I trying to bark at, she could give the information to Lucy himself if it saved even the smallest of characters.'_

_Michael watched Kimberley input the data quickly, ignoring her explanation of how she couldn't draw really well. Sparky began pacing the floor and Kimberley leaned against the wall, tiredness beginning to kick in._

_A scream caused them to pick their heads up, Kimberley tearing from the room with Michael and Sparky hot on her heels, the data pad left forgotten on the wall.__Kimberley ran into the room and said something before skidding to a stop, Sparky bumping into her._

o0o

_'She smells weird.' Sparky thought, sniffing again as the strange person shouted at Kimberley._

_Kimberley looked down at her and Sparky panted, smiling at her friend. 'Can we get off this organ matter and get some decent food?'_

_The strange female stepped away and Michael stepped forward, speaking as he patted her head. The female, Dara, glared at Kimberley and spoke harsh words, causing Sparky to stand up and begin to growl._

_Dara slid her feet backwards and got ready for a fight. She spoke quickly to Kimberley, who stepped away from everyone._

_The group exchanged words before Michael stepped closer to Kimberley, which caused her and Dara to stop closer to one another._

_A Wraith appeared behind them, causing the girls, who were trying to back away, to run into him._

_Dara was stuck to a wall as Otto placed his hands on Kimberley's shoulders. Sparky barked in anger, preparing to bit them in the butt, but stopping as Kimberley kicked them where it hurt, then turned to Michael and flew for him._

_Michael threw out his hands, the one he used to feed attaching itself to the female._

_Sparky barked as Dara screamed, a white light flashing over them and bringing them to somewhere both familiar and new._

_Kimberley and Dara looked at each other before speaking quietly. Quickly Dara took charge, leaving Sparky to sniff out all the new smells from the area._

_A man in a wheel chair came down a ramp and missed Sparkys tail by inches. It took the girls a second to realize who he was but when they did, they were shocked._

_The grouchy man ordered something before they left the room, Sparky walking beside Kimberley, who scratched between her ears affectionately._

_They entered a room and Sparky snuffed excitedly around the room, tongue nearly on the floor as she panted in happiness._

_Kimberley bent down and spoke quietly to Sparky, who shook her fur out in annoyance. 'What and I don't?'_

_The mean man said something, causing Kimberley to turn away and blush._

_Sparky looked around the room and tried to pin point why it felt so familiar, not taking any kind of interest in the conversations going around until the man with long hair spoke._

_"Good, but the dog has to stay here."_

_Kimberley stood up and glared at him, before nodding and stumbling as a blast rocketed the city. One of the men handed Dara some items as Kimberley turned to Sparky._

_Sparky allowed her paws to be placed on Kimberley's shoulders, and realized this was a 'good-bye' hug. Kimberley's arms tightened around her and Sparky licked her face, taking away the tears that had began to fall._

_Kimberley squeezed her body one more time before whispering. "Bye Sparky."_

_'Bye!' Sparky barked and whined, watching as the men with guns handed them to the girls, and with a flash, they were gone._Kimberley woke up with high sound coming from her speakers.

o0o

Turning over in her bed, she looked at the computer and wondered when Dara was getting on line so she could thank her.

As sleep began to claim her once again, Kimberley pondered on what Sparky did after they left her...

o0o

Yet another blast rocketed the city, causing everyone to loose their balance. Sparky flew under the table, watching the feet as the crew of Atlantis scrambled to stand up and do their jobs.

"Get me a lock on the girls' location!" McKay ordered. "I want to make sure they get out of here alive."

"I have a lock on them." Eli replied almost instantly. "They're heading for the jumper bay if these schematics are correct."

"Which, if we trust Todd, they are." Rush wanted to point out the problems with that statement but left it as is, choosing to keep the city dwindling shield active instead o nit picking with Rodney McKay.

"A jumper but tore from the side of the Hive ship." Eli reported.

"Follow them to the gate, then use all emergency power to get us out of here." McKay ordered.

"The Hive ships' throwing everything it has at the jumper, but who ever is driving has really good piloting skills." Eli commented.

"Or thinks they are driving a bumper car." Rush snorted, accepting a radio transmission as the girls neared their gate.

"Hey guys, who did we end up with?" Kimberley's voice came through and Sparkys ears picked up.

"KIMBERLEY!" Several of them shouted.

"Just wondered." The connection was lost as the jumper flew through the gate.

As Rush and Eli prepared to follow out McKay's orders, the Wraith Hive ship turned around and jumped into hyperspace.

"Did that just happen?" Eli asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I think it did." Rodney would have slumped down on his chair even more if he were able to.

Sensing the danger over, Sparky slowly scrawled out from the table.

"So, what do we do with her?" McKay asked as he watched Radek poke the dog.

"I have detected nanites from within the body." Rush pointed out, holding his scanner closer to the physicist.

"Just- put her in the stasis pod just now, we'll figure out what to do with her later." McKay decided, nodding to Eli who called for the dog.

'Stasis? Food?' Sparky thought and followed Eli willingly.

"C'mere boy, who's a good boy?" Eli called again, frowning as Sparky stopped in the middle of the floor.

"It's a girl, you dolt." Rush corrected from his consol.

Eli blushed but rolled his eyes at his mentors' words. "C'mon girl. Let's get you in the freezer."

'Freezer? Are there brussels?' She asked herself, happily walking along with him.

They walked down a long corridor until they reached a disused room. A frozen male was in side one of the chambers, and a member of the auxiliary crew was standing by with another chamber open.

"Riley." Eli nodded.

"Hey Eli, this the dog?" Riley asked.

"There's a dog here!" Eli jumped around to look at Sparky, and then laughed. "Sure is Ri."

"Stasis is already for, is it a him or her?" Riley questioned.

"It's a girl." Eli explained.

"Congratulations you two, but hurry up." McKay ordered through their earpieces.

Riley and Eli rolled their eyes but complied with their leader, Eli ushering the dog into the stasis chamber, placing an energy bar on the ground before she did so.

As she was munching Riley entered the commands to activate the ancient device.

Sparky looked up in fear as the cold hit her knees, falling asleep almost instantly while another blast hit the city, causing Eli and Riley to crash to the ground, sparks flying behind them from the consoles.

o0o

A tall female wearing a plain black outfit entered the stasis pod room.

She looked at the one that had a huge crack and sighed, slowly making her way over to it.

A beeping noise caught her attention.

The stasis pod with the black furry animal, Sparky, was finished through its cycle and was releasing the captive into the wild.

Slowly the ice and cold melted away, leaving a sleeping Sparky, who stretched, yawned, then looked up at her surroundings - and stared at the female. She looked strangely familiar, with long hair, a kind smile but slightly suspicious eyes. Taking an experimental sniff Sparky could feel her eyes widen. 'It can't be!'

Sparky bound forward, ramming into the familiar females legs.

"Well, hello Sparky." The female answered as she slowly patted her head, bending down slightly to stretch her ears. "Did ja miss me?"

'Yes!' Sparky felt like screaming. In her long life, there were few that she really had connected with, and this person, this was one of them.

"Good, not how about we change your voice from an Earth dog into something I can understand." The female picked up a small purple device and pressed it to Sparkys jugular. "Better?"

"This won't-It worked!" Sparky spoke with a chirpy, high voice. "Thank you! You had no idea how long I've been stuck with out a voice-how did you know I could talk?"

The female smirked. "I've known for a long time."

"How long was I 'dead' for?" Sparkys asked, sitting on the floor with her legs to the side.

"Technically, never, but in terms of how long it has been since the humans of Atlantis put you in the stasis pod, its been about 40 years." she shrugged.

"40 years!" Sparky jumped up. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope, sorry." Their head moved from side to side. "But I have a proposition for you."

"Why would you?" Sparky asked, moving closer to them.

"Because she needs you." They replied.

"She? You mean-"

"Yes, but don't say it here, I'm not to sure if I got all the Iratus out." She cut her off.

"Why do you trust me?" Sparky had to ask.

"You don't get it, do you?" The female sighed. "I've known you for years; you can't hide your true personality, not from family, not from friends."

Her hand clasped her snout and patted it, scrubbing up and down. "Anyway, I knew ever since I met you that you weren't who you were billed as."

If a dog could look sheepish, Sparky would have. "I'm sorry but-"

"It's fine." The being sat on the floor and pulled her for a hug. "But we should get you back."

"Back?" Sparky pulled away slightly. "Back when? Where? How?"

"Where you belong silly." The being smiled. "As for the how, leave that to me."

"You mean my home?" Sparkys voice was hopeful.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I can't take you there; however, I can take you to the next best place, if you'll let me?"

Sparky eyed the woman, and then looked around in the cold area that she was in, and nodded.

"But I need to take your voice away." She explained.

"What? Why?" Sparky backed away slightly.

"Because if anyone was to hear you speak instead of bark, they'd change your name to Luna." The female joked.

o0o

Kimberley grumbled to herself as she took Sparky for a walk, shouting for her to hurry up as the pooch decided to sniff anything and everything that was in her path.

As the snow continued to fall around the area, a cloaked figure smiled to herself as she closed the hatch of her home made puddle jumper, glad that Sparky was where she belonged, and where she would do the most good.

While the jumper took a second to rise into the atmosphere because of its age, the female hoped that Sparky would find the help she needed, and that there wouldn't be too many problems (this time).


	8. Now, Second in Command

Len tapped at her keyboard, trying to get the new program to turn off. She tried to concentrate, as her siblings screamed in the background. "Catherine!" she screamed, trying to get her younger sister's attention.

"So, do you guys think you can take care of the Earth, while Kimberley and I are away?" Dara asked over the ear piece.

"How long are you going to be gone again?"

"About two years."

"That's a long time."

"Yeah, I know, but I think it'll be the best way to deal with the damage control."

Len had to resist the urge to hit her computer. She knew her sister had been messing with it again, but she didn't think she would purposely put a virus on it. "But I thought, she told the 'future alternate reality' Michael about where Atlantis and Earth is."

She could hear Dara sigh over the ear piece. "I love that girl like a sister, but also like a sister, I just want to strangle her sometimes. Anyways, I don't want to risk it. Michael is way too smart. I wouldn't put it past him to somehow send himself a message with that information."

"Wouldn't he go for their Earth though."

"I wish I could think that, but he probably has figured out that we are from an alternate reality or maybe she told him. I wouldn't put it past him to find a way to jump realities, just to get here."

"Why? Wouldn't that be to much work?"

"No. If he finds a secluded spot to work, he's good. If he finds a way to jump realities, he has hundreds of Earths that are defenseless with billions of people to turn into hybrids or just to rule over."

"Oh!"

"Soooo, do you guys think you can handle it?"

Len sighes, giving up on her computer, and throws her hands up. "Yeah. I think we can."

"Good. We'll see you in about two days. Catherine still has to install those upgrades that she keeps pester me about."

* * *

Len stood outside, near the road, waiting for the once familiar dusty blue van. After a minute or two she hears what almost sound like a dying engine. She smiles, because she knew better. It was way it was suppose to sound. Two girls climb out, one of them saying, "That is the last time I let you drive. We got lost."

"We weren't lost. We're here aren't we?" Kimberley says with a smile.

Dara sighs and shakes her head. "Yeah, now. We could have been here hours earlier."

"Bah! We don't have an exact time table."

"Actually, we kind of do. I promised them we would be there by the end of the month."

Len watched as Kimberley deliberately ignored that comment and spotted her. "Len!" She runs over and give her a big hug. "What is up girly?"

Len just snorts and rolls her eyes. "The sky."

"My line," Dara casually says as she walks up.

It was about that time when Len heard foot steps running up behind her and then Catherine stopped at her side. She watched as Kimberley did a double take and Dara shoots an eyebrow up at Catherine's Wielder Helmet, Apron, and Gloves. "About time you guys got here. I was beginning to wonder if I could make another Puddle Jumper and send you off with that one."

"Naw," Dara smiles and pats the side of hers. "I like mine."

Len watched Catherine's face, knowing that her thoughts just changed gears. "Kimberley, can I get you to drive the Prototype into the garage, please?"

"Um, sure, but shouldn't Dara do it?"

Catherine shakes her head and simple says, "No, Len is going to show her the second Puddle Jumper, so she can see the improvements she'll be getting."

"Uh, okay."

Just as Kimberley crawled into the Puddle Jumper, Dara shot out, "Don't scratch it!"

Len just smirks as she adds, "Don't worry. Catherine will fix it."

Catherine just snorts and mumbles in their native language about stupid Americans and their cars.

As Catherine walked towards the garage, with Kimberley slowly following after her in the Puddle Jumper, Dara says, "One of these days, I swear I'm going to learn French. That way, I can have one awesome retort."

Len just smiles and started heading towards the back. "Dream on. You learn French? I have a better chance teaching stray cats to talk with sign language."

"Yeah, well, shut up."

Len just laughs. She knew she got Dara on that one. After they got around to the back, she stops next to what looked like a dusty gold van. "Here we are, Prototype 2.0. At least, that's what Catherine calls it." Soon they were in the vehicle, talking over everything, the improvements, the new software, and a bunch of new stuff that Len wasn't even sure what Catherine intended for.

Dara sat in the driver's seat, looking over the controls. "I wonder what she'll call mine after the upgrades?"

"Probably 'Prototype 1.2' or something like that."

"You know, I don't like calling them that. They're space ships. They should have a proper name. I mean even the space shuttle that wasn't meant to actually go into space, but to run tests for NASA, had a name."

"So, do you want to call the Puddle Jumper, Enterprise as well?"

Dara just grins and shakes her head. "No, to common." She sits back for a moment and thinks. "I think I'll name mine, _Reality Breaker_."

Len leans forward in the passenger sit. "You serious?"

Dara just continues to smile. "Yeah. I like it." Dara then sits forward herself and looks at Len. "You should name yours."

Len leans back into her seat. "I should, shouldn't I. Maybe down the road. Something will come to me."

Len watched as Dara's face got deadly serious. "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah?"

"I know I'm already asking a lot of you, having you and Catherine trying to 'protect' the Earth while Kimberley and I'm away, but I know I can count on you."

"It's not a problem."

Dara shakes her head. "Trust me when I say I really do thank you for it. Especially now, since I'm kind of making it official, by saying, you're my second in command."

"Whoa!" Len sat foward suddenly. "What do you mean by that?"

"If you hadn't noticed, when it comes to major crisis, I'm the one always in charge. Should I for some reason, can't 'preform my duty', so to speak, I want you to take over. You're the only one I can trust. Catherine is to, sciencey, and Kimberley is too kind and caring. In a violet moment, I don't think any of them can handle it. I know I'm putting more pressure on you with this, but I thought you should know. Just in case."

Len sighs, thinking of the responsibility that Dara just put on her. She knew that it took a lot for Dara to do that. She wasn't one to just put half a thought on something as serious as this. She was kind of a little over whelmed. Shaking the thoughts from her head she finally says, "Okay, I won't deliberately signal the Wraith to come to the planet, to feed on us."

She watched as Dara just smiles, knowing that she got the joke.


	9. Moving In

Kimberley watched as Dara dialed her cell phone and nodded to her self. "Okay, I'll be back soon."

"Are you sure you don't want a hand?" Dara asked, thinking how much stuff her friend was going to drag to Atlantis. "And don't go overboard."

"I won't." She promised. "Be back in a few minutes."

Kimberley exited the back of the puddle jumper into the street outside her house, looking around before opening the silver gates and walking up the pathway, unlocking the door, disabling the alarm and walking in.

Heading straight for the stairs she went up them and stopped at the landing, opening the hatch leading to the attic. Using a silver hook, she guided the stepladders down and opened them fully, quickly walking up the steps and hauling herself up the hole.

Automatically she stood, grabbing a suitcase and stack of hold alls from their place. Throwing them down stairs, she looked around the loft for anything she would need. A small item caught her eye and she carefully picked it up, running it over her hands before placing it in her pocket and descending down the steps.

After putting the stairs back, she glanced at her watch then entered the room on the left of the stairs and threw the suitcase on the bed, emptying the drawers into it. Once that task was done she started to empty the stuff on top of her drawers into the bag.

Leaving the room with the case open she crossed the landing into her computer room, opening the door and multi tasking with opening up one of the hold alls, opening it and placing it on her desk.

Her cell phone buzzed. "Hello?"

"What are you doing, the dishes?" Dara demanded and Kimberley stuck her head up to the window to see Dara glaring up impatiently.

"Hey I sat through you and your family saying good bye and get lost about a billion times." Kimberley rolled her eyes and hung up, muttering under her breath.

Picking up her three laptops, she put them at the bottom of the bag, and then moved some of her special money banks on top, followed by her perfume.

_"Remember we'll be back in a month!" Dara spoke quickly as they pulled up to her house. "Don't pack the kitchen sink!"_

'At least she can come back.' Kimberley though dryly, remembering how her friends parents were as they said goodbye.

Turning on the step, she grabbed her psychology books, Stargate reference books and things that she was going to read before remembering she hadn't grabbed the other bag. Placing them on the ground, she grabbed a bag and opened it, putting the ground beside the books and quickly tossed them in.

Opening her cupboard, she scanned it before grabbing a bunch of clothes and taking them into her bedroom, putting them in the case.

The picture above her bed caught her eye and she bit her lip before taking it down and taking it out of the frame, rolling it up carefully and placing it along the top of the suitcase.

Entering the computer room, she looked through the cupboard one more time before smiling sadly. Turning around she grabbed another hold all and began putting her ornamental knickknacks into it, then placed the oval object from her pocket into the bag.

Only to remove it seconds later, placing it back in her pocket.

Kimberley moved back into the hallway. Lifting one of the two remaining hold alls from the floor she wandered around the rooms grabbing anything else she thought she might need, including her jewellery box, make up bag, several pairs of shoes, most of her arts and craft things and dozens of notebooks.

Taking her time, she transported all the bags down stairs before raiding the kitchen cupboards, putting in fundamental things like salt and vinegar, adding most of the spices and several cookbooks that had been accumulated over the years in as well. As she was deciding over taking the last packet of macaroni and cheese, the door opened.

Kimberley froze in fear, expecting the worst.

"What are you doing!"

"Oh, it's just you." Kimberley sighed a breath of relief at the sight of Dara.

"I've got one box, ONE BOX." Dara shouted, arms flailing. "And you've got four!"

"And a suitcase in the living room." Kimberley added, tossing the box in for the sake of it. "And that's me."

"You can cram a shit load into your bag but you can't get all this into one suitcase?" She demanded, then looked at the amount of stuff she was bringing with her to the lost city. "And what do you need all this for?"

"Well, we're gonna be there for two years." Kimberley shrugged, hauling her large Paul's Boutique bag to her shoulder, grunting at she grabbed the hold alls. "Can you grab the suitcase?"

Dara opened her mouth to object at her friend for taking all this stuff with her but closed it, nodding. 'I've told her repeatedly we're coming back to visit every month or so!'

The eldest of the two stepped into the living room and paused.

Every picture with Kimberley had her either cut out or otherwise removed from the frame. 'What happened when she told her parents?'

"Dara, ya coming?" Kimberley hollered from the front door.

'I'll corner her on Atlantis.' Dara thought to herself, grabbing the handle of the suitcase and began to haul it from the living room. "Coming!" 'Damn this thing weighs a ton!'

o0o

John Sheppard stood at the railing over looking the Stargate.

A quick glance at his watch notified him that there was about ten minutes before Dara and Kimberley were due to arrive in this galaxy. 'Kimberley...'

Before his thoughts had chance to turn from sheer annoyance into something deeper a familiar voice cut through the tension rolling into his brain. "John, there ya are."

Turning around the head of the military personnel grinned at Carson Beckett 2.0, hoping for some good news.

"No good news I'm afraid." The Scottish man replied.

"Any bad?" John grimaced.

"No..."

"Well then, that's good news." John grinned.

"But didn't Dara say-"

"Hey, hey doc, Dara herself said the time line for things to happen would be out of whack, so you'll probably have a little longer before your cells start to degenerate." John placed a hand on his shoulder. "They should be here soon if you want to grill them some more?"

"Them?" Carson asked.

"Yea, Kimberley's coming with her." Johns face fell a little.

"Is that a bad thing?" He wondered.

"No, well, ya see." John paused, unsure what to tell the still declared security risk. "She's kind of the reason why they're coming here in the first place."

"Because of Michael." Carson nodded in understanding.

"Yea because of- how did you know that?" John demanded.

"The grape vine on Atlantis is just the same as any other planet." Carson smiled sadly. "Did she really give him our gate address?"

"What? No!" John denied.

"Oh, that's good." Carson sighed in relief.

"She told him how to get to Earth. With a map." John clarified.

Carson looked dumbstruck. "Why-"

"You'd be better off asking her, I think Dara got the wrong end of the stick, she said she did it for her dog." John shook his head. 'At least I hope that's wrong.'

"Receiving an IFF." Chuck called from the control room.

"I think we'll be getting our answers sooner rather than later." Carson spoke softly.

o0o

As Dara lowered the puddle jumper onto the ground Kimberley glanced around in nervousness. "How many of them know?"

"Officially, just Col. Carter and Sheppard." Dara responded, double-checking the systems were offline before standing from her chair and grabbing her box. "They want to check our stuff before they let us take them to our rooms."

"Oh, okay. Sounds sane." Kimberley nodded.

"Sane?" Even after knowing the girl for three years, Dara sometimes has trouble keeping on track with her weird jumps.

"Eh, hello? Two girls from an alternate reality claming to be here to help, of course you would check what they're bringing with them." Kimberley explained and moved her things from the overhead bins and from their strapped in positions to the floor.

"That sounds familiar." Dara commented.

"From Unable." Her friend replied offhandedly. "Guess we'll have a marine detail for the first little while too."

"What makes you say that?" Dara asked.

"Because in your story, the one that is more grounded in the realm of believability, your OFCSI got a marine detail at least until Storm." Kimberley replied.

Dara cut off any more discussion by pressing the back hatch button, letting it slowly descend to reveal the first team and Col Carter waiting on them.

As the head of the expedition cast her eyes on the females, they smiled and nodded to her.

"Miss Baldwin, Miss Boyce, I'd like to formally welcome you two to Atlantis." Carter smiled.

"Call me Dara." Dara asked.

"Sure." Carter nodded and looked at Kimberley, something flashing thorough her eyes.

"Call me Kimberley." Kimberley quietly said, trying to blend into the background.

Carter nodded once again. "If you two would like to come with me we'll get you to the infirmary for a base line medical check while the first team has a quick look through the items you brought with you."

Dara stepped forward first and Kimberley followed her eyes on the ground.

"Alright if we look at the stuff in the jumper without you being here or would you rather we wait?" John asked.

"I've just got one box, knock yourself out." Dara shrugged her shoulders. "But let Teyla do the search of the unmentionables."

"Okay." John nodded.

"You no asking Kimberley?" A familiar voice added, causing Kimberley's head to snap up.

'No way.' Her brain stopped at the sight of Carson, alive and well standing in front of her. "CARSON!"

Flying forward the Scottish female threw herself at the Scottish man, grabbing him around the waist, sending both of them flying to the ground. "Jeezus Mary an Joseph, you're alive mate!"

"Uh, did I forget to mention something?" Dara asked, half looking at her nails, half watching her friend smile since she dropped this consequence bomb on her.

"Kimberley, its nice tae see ye, but the floor isn't that clean." Carson stated as he tried to stand up.

Dara watched as the others simply watched the exchange with a weird mood in the air. Sliding up to Ronon she asked him "what's up?"

"You two do know he's a clone, right?" Ronon asked, turning to look from her to the female still hugging the stuffing out of the medic.

"Uh, yeah." Dara slowly nodded.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "These Neanderthals can't see the good that has come from one of Michaels many mistakes and given us a second chance."

"Any chance we could take this reunion to the infirmary?" Dara asked, toeing Kimberley with her boots. "I want to get settled in before the New Year."

Kimberley frowned, and then looked at where exactly she was before blushing profuriously, standing up and offering Carson her hand. "Sorry about that I- er- it's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too hen." Carson felt the butterfly's from before beginning to fly rapidly in his stomach. "How are ye?"

"Al-alright, I guess." She looked down to the ground, avoiding eye contact.

"Carson, if you want you can do Kimberley's medical and Jennifer can do Daras?" Carter suggested and soon they made their way to the infirmary.

o0o

Inside the infirmary Carter lead Dara and Sheppard to the back of the room, leaving Kimberley and Carson to use the post mission check up room at the front of the room.

"So, how's Earth?" Carson began, motioning for her to sit on the bed while he gathered his needed equipment, snagging a data pad from its charging position. "Allergic to any metals?"

"Its good, still in one piece." Kimberley joked, hopping up and swinging her legs. "Nope only allergic to aloe Vera."

Carson frowned, quickly tossing the bottle of antiseptic hand gel he was holding to the sink. "Deathly or?"

"Rash." She shrugged. "Only happened a few times."

The medic opened a file on the data pad and input some information. "Let's start from the beginning shall we? Name, age-"

Kimberley reached forward and grabbed the computer from his hand, touch-typing in the information. "Kimbo B fae the PYT-"

"You're kiddin." Carson slumped against the wall in shock.

"Well, technically Govan." Kimberley looked up from typing her date of birth in and frowned at him. "Why?"

"Well, you're fae Pollok and-"

"You're fae Paisley. So what?" Kimberley asked. "Oh! The boundaries, naa, nobody bothers with them much any more. Ohh! I go to uni in Paisley!"

"Really, what are you studying?" He asks, motioning for the data pad.

"Psychology. Sorry." She answers, handing him the data pad with a smile.

"Have you ever been pregnant?"

"No."

"Had an infectious disease including but not limited to HIV, Hep C, Swine Flu?"

"No."

"Have you ever paid for or received money for sex?"

Kimberley shook her head negatively. "Are these the questions like for giving blood? Because the answers no for all of 'em."

"You give blood? What's your type?" He asks, leaving the data pad between them and opening the sealed blood pack.

"And platelets. O RH D Neg." She replied and held out her left arm, slightly turned to the right. "Best vein fur taking blood is at the side of my arm."

Carson nodded his thanks.

o0o

"And I think that's everything we need to know." Jennifer Keller smiled at Dara. "Do you have any other questions, comments or queries before these two interrogate you?"

"Just one." Dara applied pressure to her band-aid. "Would I be eligible for the ATA gene therapy?"

John frowned at her wording. "Just you?"

"Do you want Kimberley being able turn on machines like the one that makes exploding tumors?" Dara raised and eyebrow.

"She would do that?" He asked.

"Not on purpose!" Dara replied. "She's good with human tech, but give her something ancient and yeah, you're pretty much digging your own grave there pal."

"That would be up to Col Carter." Jennifer interrupted. "Anything else?"

"No, I'm good." Dara nodded her head.

"Lets get down to business, shall we?" John rubbed his hands together.

"Col Carter he's hitting on me can you make him stop please, its freaking me out." Dara pleaded to the woman in charge. "He's old!"

"Who are you calling old?" John demanded. "I'm in the prime of my life!"

"For a father of three." Dara shot back at him.

"Okay kids, enough." Carter came between them. "John, keep it in your mind, Dara, have you thought any more on what I said the other month?"

o0o

"Do you know where we'll be staying?" Kimberley asked Dara as they met up outside the infirmary, both girls rubbing their arms.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to tell you where it is, but I'll show you the way." Dara nodded, itching to pull the band-aid off her arm, and then nodded to her friend. "Why do you have gauze on yours?"

"Ehhheheh." Kimberley laughed, looking down and fiddling with her fingers.

"Because she started to peel it off just after putting it on." Carson explained as he arrived beside the duo. "Good news, Dara, you're not a clone, you're 100 percent human."

"You don't say!" Dara retorted before she started to mutter to herself. "Can't believe they insisted in checking that!"

"We could be clones." Kimberley pointed out. "Wouldn't that be weird?"

"Naa, it'd be cool." Dara grinned. "Think about it, no connections, no past to tie us to any particular world."

"When will the girls be seeing Doctor Heightmyer?" Carson turned to Sam and asked, slightly concerned for Daras mentality and violent tendencies.

"After they've had a chance to settle in." Sam picked up on his silent question. 'Mental note; make sure Dara goes first.'

"So if there's nothing else, I'm pretty sure the guys are finished looking through our stuff." Dara tried to hurry them along.

"Actually, I wanted to have a word with Kimberley if you don't mind." Carson requested.

"Uh, sure, no problem." Dara replied looking to her friend, giving her the look.

"But I haven't done anything else yet!" Kimberley defended.

Carson smiled at her pleading of innocence. "It's nothing that you've done hen."

"Oh, okay." She nodded and together they walked back into the infirmary, towards his old office.

Dara and Sam watched the pair, both wondering the same things.

"So, is it okay if we stay in the south west pier level 15?" Dara belatedly asked the head of the expedition.

Sam thought for a moment. "Sure, I guess. Any particular reason why that specific spot?"

"It's the farthest away from everyone labs so for security it's excellent for you guys; it has some of the biggest living quarter spaces." Dara paused and grinned. "And all of the rooms have air conditioned balconies, so I can sleep out with the stars."

"Since you've told me where you two are staying I'll pass it on to Doctor Beckett." Sam smiled. "That way you can go ahead and get settled in."

"It won't take me long to settle in." Dara shook her head.

"But you brought a lot of stuff with you." Sam was confused.

"Correction, Kimberley brought a butt load of stuff. I brought one box." Dara explained.

"Why did she bring so much?" The head of the expedition questioned.

Dara shrugged and held out her hands. "I dunno."

Sam nodded and turned to walk away. "We'll meet tomorrow in the main conference room at 0900 hours, but if you need us or we need you, we'll call your radios okay?"

"Sure thing Col. Carter." Dara copied her head movement and turned herself in the opposite direction.

Walking for only seconds, she bumped into Atlantis' main lothario. "Sheppard."

"Baldwin." He nodded to her. "Nice thongs by that way, bit too pink for my tastes."

"They're not pink, they're bikini flowers!" Dara snapped back, and then groaned at his grin. 'I walked straight into that one.'

As he laughed, Dara got mad and punched him in the arm, causing him to stop laughing and grab his limb. "Ow, that hurt. Why are you always hitting on me?"

"Because you're asking for it!" Dara snapped, then realized his wording. "Sheppard!"

John realized his chances of survival were slim, so he smiled, pointed in the opposite direction then ran.

o0o

As Carson went to close the door to his temporary office he paused as John Sheppard ran past, looking like the Wraith were at his heels. Frowning the clone pondered sticking his head out to see what was sending the seasoned military man into such a rush before beating down his thoughts. 'Transferring my problems into solving Johns will not make mine go away. I need to talk with Kimberley; the sooner the better.'

The Scottish medic turned from the door and smiled at the sight of Kimberley spinning on his chair. Quietly he walked up to the black leather seat and grabbed the top, stopping the female.

"Whoa!" The female smiled up at him, a cheeky grin on her face. "Man I haven't had that much fun since."

"Since?" Carson prodded as she stopped talking, the smile falling from her face. He sat on the desk and watched her play with her hands.

"Never mind." She muttered and placed a fake smile on her face. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Clones." He replied simply.

"Oh God I'm a clone!" She shot up, toppling the chair backwards. "Crap, I'm sorry I-that-erm."

Kimberley bent down and picked up the chair, muttering to herself, ignoring Carson's attempts to talk with her.

"No, its okay, I get it, you guys want me to leave, after all, why would they want a clone running around, even a Scottish one in such a low position." She frowned to herself. "They guys won't have unpacked my stuff so I can just go back-no I can't I-how the hell am I a clone!"

"Kimberley-"

"No, don't tell me the mechanics, we both know I won't get it, but _how_ and _why_ did someone want to make a clone of me?" She pretty much demanded, still frowning. "I can't go home, I can't stay here-"

"Why can't you go home?" Carson got in.

"Because my family freaked that I was joining a military operation as a specialist and disowned me!" She nearly shrieked, arms flying all over the place. "And now I find out that the place I was coming to doesn't want me and-"

"You've no a clone! I am!" Carson shouted.

There was silence. Kimberley fell back into the chair.

"Oh."

'There, now she knows, now she'll not want anything to do with me.' Carson thought, lowering his head towards his chest to hide his crest fallen face.

"Well, duh." Kimberley spoke frankly. "How else are you here?"

Carson inclined his head upwards.

"Is-was that the problem? That you've a clone and not the original?" Kimberley asked and he nodded dumbfounded. "Carson, you're _alive_. Michael gave Atlantis, us, everyone, a second chance by making a carbon copy of someone that made so many people happy and feel safe. Your death devastated millions of people, and not just in one reality."

Her smile was beginning to freak him out. "You're not...disappointed?"

"Disappointed?" She snorted, and then covered her nose. "Dude, I was ECSTATIC when I found out you were alive."

"But technically, I'm not real." The clone replied.

"Er, can you think? Feel?" Kimberley began. "Can you still make people react? Do you have memories? Are you capable of being hurt, of hurting others? Cause I don't know how it does for everyone else, but if I can hug ya, you're real."

Carson listened to her passionately speak and began to smile.

Her arms wrapped around him in a gentler hug. "Never let anyone tell you that they're disappointed in you Carson, you're worth too much to so many different people to listen to them."

"Thank you hen." Carson hugged her in return, and then looked down to her. "That's some advice you should listen to yourself luv."

"Eh, yeah, sure." Kimberley replied, relishing the feeling of hugging the man she had fancied for six years before letting go. "Was that all you want to talk about?"

"Erm, yes." Carson straightened and looked at her seriously. "Now, you don't mind?"

"Naa, as long as you guys don't mind me annoying yas." She grinned in response, and then frowned. "Wait a minute, you mean you're a Wraith clone? Well that's a whole other kettle of fish."

"Oh, shut up." Carson mock glared at her, smiling and laughing as they left the room.

o0o

Outside the doors that would lead the two female alternate earthlings to their rooms, John, Rodney and Ronon stood waiting.

"I don't get how Teyla insisted on waiting for the girls before searching their clothes." John grumbled, looking through Kimberleys zebra bag one more time. 'How the hell does she fit this much stuff in this anyway?'

Rodney eyed the bag with a calculating mind. He moved to speak with John and opened his mouth.

"No, you are not taking Kimberley's bag." John interrupted.

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it." John shook his head. 'I don't want anyone in this expedition messing around with that girls stuff; she sold out Earth when she was on friendly terms, what would happen if she was pissed?'

o0o

"Why, thank ya for waiting for us all before you looked at our unmentionables." Dara spoke in a southern bell drawl, causing Teyla to look at her confused.

"You are most welcome Dara." Teyla raised her eyebrow and smiled softly. "Would you like a hand with your belongings?"

"I'm good." Dara lifted the box from the floor and nodded.

Kimberley shook her head negatively as she prepped the suitcase to be wheeled.

"Shall we?" Teyla began walking towards one of the transporters. "Have you been to your new quarters since the last time?"

'Last time?' Kimberley thought, shooting a look to Dara.

'Don't ask.' Dara moved her head.

In silence, the girls walked towards the new living quarters for the two alternate reality females. As they turned the corner after exiting a transporter, Kimberley stopped at the sight of Ronon, Rodney and John glaring in her direction.

Dara turned to look at her friend, a puzzled look upon her face. She turned around and looked at the trio of men before rolling her eyes. "Is there something you need?"

Rodney looked abashed and looked away.

"Just making sure you two settled in okay." John replied and moved his eyes from Kimberley to Dara, smiling sweetly at the female.

Ronon continued to stare at Kimberley, who shuffled her feet.

"All the boxes are in the main area, we didn't know whose was whose." John explained and Rodney moved to open the door.

"Thank you." Kimberley muttered as she walked past them, standing at one side of the room while the others filled in.

There was a tense silence as everyone stood inside the same room. Dara walked towards the room she had already picked out and dropped her box at the door, turning to look at the scene in front of her.

Kimberley had moved her suitcase to the only other door (that was not a bathroom) and propped it up beside the door. As she walked back to the middle of the room, with four sets of eyes on her, Dara could see her consciously trying to make her self smaller, causing her to make her moves jerkier.

As Dara crossed the room to help her friend, Teyla stepped forward and picked up a box, turning to look at the men with 'the look'. Rodney scrambled over, picked up a light-ish box, and began walking with Teyla, dropping them carefully beside Kimberleys suitcase.

Kimberley bent down to pick up one of the heavier boxes, gasping as an egg shaped object fell from her pocket, hitting Ronons foot.

The Sedetan eyes widened at the weight of the object and he picked it up, looking at it.

Carefully she placed the box back on the floor and took the object from him, opening it up in half, tears collecting in her eyes at the sight of her NOA Bunny Rabbit broken in three places. Sniffling she looked up at Ronon. "I'm so sorry."

John snorted from behind her.

"Are you okay?" Kimberley turned to look at John.

"What do you think?" He snapped.

"What do you mean by that?" Kimberley asked, moving to brush a tear from her cheek.

'Oh please!' John rolled his eyes, scoffing once more at her innocence act.

"What the-why are you rolling your eyes?" Kimberley demanded. 'I'm going through enough crap without him throwing a mini hissy fit.' "I meant my apology."

"There's a lot more that you need to start apologizing for." John glared.

"I'm really sorry." Kimberley tried again.

"You don't need to apologies." Teyla stepped in.

"Yes she does." Rodney jumped in.

"See, even Rodney agrees with me." John replied and continued to glare at Kimberley.

"But it was my ornament that I broke." Kimberley looked confused.

"It's not the reason you need to apologies for." John replied.

"Then what is? I'm a little dense here, you need to explain some things to me." Kimberley blinked her eyes clear but her mind foggy.

"That much is evident." John spoke clearly for Kimberley (and Dara) to hear.

"Ho kay then, I think its time for us to get some shut eye, Ronon, Teyla, McKay, Sheppard, see you in the morning." Dara bid them a good night and pushed them out of the room despite their protests. "So, do you want a hand with those boxes?"

"Yea, but before we do I want to apologies-" Kimberley paused as Dara held her hand up.

"You've got a butt load of boxes and only a few hours before we need to meet Carter and have some shut eye, get moving or you're putting them away by yourself." Dara grabbed a box and moved to the opposite side of the room, smiling as Kimberley ran to grab a box.


	10. Dara Meets Todd

The next day Kimberley slowly woke up with a strange chiming noise. Waiting for a second she smiled as it stopped, then shrieked as the covers where whipped off her.

Kimberley bounced up and threw her self at the intruder, opening her eyes in time to change direction and land on her teddy bears, instead of straight at Daras legs. "How did you get in here!"

"Pop off the panel, little switcheroo with the crystals." Dara shrugged, then walked over to the wall closet and looked through Kimberley's hung up clothes, selecting a pair of black trousers and three tops, one pink, one green and one purple. "C'mon get dressed, we need to head down to the mess hall."

"I thought we were meeting Col. Carter in her office at nine?" Kimberley asked, not moving from her seat on the floor.

"We are, but I want to get some breakfast in and explore Atlantis a little before hand." Dara explained.

"Meh." Kimberley flopped sideways and buried her head in the bears. "I don't do breakfast."

"What do you mean, you don't 'do' breakfast?" Dara asked as she threw the items onto Kimberley's bed.

Kimberley shrugged. "I don't like eating in the morning, or until late afternoon preferably."

"What? No wait, forget it, you're eating something." Dara decided.

"I don't like eating in the morning!" She repeated and stood up, placing her hands on her hips and glared at her friend.

"That's stupid!" Dara responded.

"Why?" Kimberley demanded. "I'll have a munch later, grab a sandwich or something for when we're on a break-"

"You need to eat in the morning to kick start your metabolism. Great way to diet." Dara cut in.

"But I don't _like_ to eat in the morning." Kimberley repeated again.

"How about we do it together, and with all the training and stuff we'll be doing here on Atlantis, by the time we go home our parents won't be able to recognise us." Dara offered, noting that Kimberley looked to the left as she nodded, her head trailing down wards. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine, lets go get breakfast." She smiled and walked out her door, doubling back to grab the clothes.

o0o

Dara led Kimberley through the similar looking hallways, nodding to a few people who called out hello.

"Why do you know so many people?" Kimberley asked. "How do you know where we are going?"

"You know how when we would come here in the past, your would run off and do what ever you needed to do?" Dara asked and waited for Kimberley to nod. "Well I got used to the lay out of this place and the personnel. That and I downloaded a map when I realised we were coming here to live."

Kimberley nodded, accepting the explanation. She turned her attention to looking for any forgotten 10,000 year old dead plants, a bit sad that she didn't find any.

It took them several minutes and two transporters - something Kimberley did not want to do again - before they arrived at the mess hall.

Dara headed for the hot food section, leaving Kimberley to glance up and down the room before walking toward the fruit and cereal section.

Both girls grabbed their breakfast before heading to an unoccupied table, sitting down and eating their breakfast with little fanfare.

Kimberley munched on her banana and looked around the room, spotting the scientist, military personnel and doctors before finally noting Dara looking at her. "What?"

"That's all your having?" Daras fork pointed to her bowl of cereal and the banana in her hand, before dropping down to point at her own breakfast.

Kimberley blushed. "I told you I don't lik-"

"To eat at breakfast, yeah yeah yeah." Dara waved her off and quickly finished her breakfast, looking around the room as Kimberley finished hers. "We've got about twenty minutes to get to Col. Carters office, and it only takes five to get there."

"Again, how do you know this?" Kimberley asked, downing the rest of her milk.

"I am your omnipotent master." Dara smirked.

Kimberley raised both eye brows.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you." Dara sighed.

"I believe you." Kimberley nodded, then began packing up. "Lets go just now, that way we can take a scenic route."

"What do you have in mind?" Dara asked, grabbing her plate before Kimberley could and stood up, walking to the trolley before exiting the mess hall.

"I just want to see the Stargate." Kimberley replied.

"You see ours all the time." Dara pointed out.

"No, I go through it a hellava lot, but I've never actually seen it up close and personal." Kimberley replied then began humming some music.

"Hey Kimberley." A man with a gun nodded to Kimberley.

"Hey Brent, how are you?" Kimberley asked.

"I'm good, yourself?" Brent replied.

"Off to meet Col. Carter, any tips?" She joked.

"Just keep outta trouble." He laughed. "I'm just heading off to suit up, catch up with you soon?"

"Sure!" She bopped her head and watched him enter the locker room, turning to continue walking but stopped at the sight of Dara staring at her. "Huh?"

"Who was that?" Dara asked.

"Captain Brent Cole, leader of AT15." Kimberley explained.

"I mean, how do you know him?" Dara questioned.

Kimberley blushed.

Dara saw red. "What did I tell you about stealing my puddle jumper?"

o0o

Carter sat behind her desk filling out requisition forms that Chef Rotella had just emailed to her and tried not to sigh.

She loved Atlantis, the Pegasus galaxy and all the adventures that came with it, but truth be told she missed her friends back on Earth, and nothing, not even Jack, could have prepared her for this much _paperwork._

As her pencil (a trick she picked up from her old CO) hovered above the next line someone laughed loudly outside her office, diverting her attention.

Dara shook her head as Kimberley tried to suppress her giggles. "Really Chuck, you shouldn't encourage her."

"But its true, we do get more bathroom breaks than anyone else in the expedition." Chuck said, still not quite believing that two people knew his name.

"Dara, Kimberley, how are you? Did you manage to get here okay?" Sam asked.

"Sure did Col. Carter." Dara replied.

"Good, have a seat please." Sam gestured for the two to take the seats in front of her desk, as she moved to sit behind it and bring forward a large stack of files. "Kimberley, if you could just go through these forms for me and return them before the end of the month?"

"Huh?" Kimberley asked. "Why isn't Dara-"

"I did them all last night. When you were talking with Carson." Dara smirked at her.

Kimberley blushed but accepted the stack of papers.

"Its all standard procedure, confidentiality agreement, employment contracts, information to help your transition to living on Atlantis easier." Sam tried to smile and seem positive for everyone in the room. "Also there are your basic health, safety and training forms. I'm afraid you can't start training or go through the Stargate until you have completed all these."

"Understanda-" Kimberley paused and flipped back a few pages. "We get paid!"

Sam nodded, a little confused. "Did Dara not tell you?"

'Why do I have the feeling that there is a lot that Dara hasn't told me?' Kimberley thought and shook her head. "No ma'am."

"Well everything is in there, including how you are to receive the money and should answer and questions that you may have." Sam explained. "Today we will take it easy and formally introduce you two to everyone."

Kimberley paused on the line she was reading. "We're aliens?"

Sam nodded. "This is the best way to hold off the IOA from trying to find out the differences between our two realities."

"To stop them experimenting on us." Dara clarified as Kimberley's confused face.

"No I get that, but what I was thinking was, why aren't they trying to get to our galaxy?" Kimberley asked.

"Reality." Dara muttered to her. "Wait, what?"

"Well, if I was them I would want to go and visit where the others came from, to see if there was anything there that could be used to our advantage." Kimberley explained, looking down at the papers and missed the freaked out looks that Sam and Dara shared.

"As I was saying." Sam tried to get back on topic. "Today Dara, you will be assessed for off world missions, that includes guns, psychological pre assessment, physical training-"

"We go back the third weekend in every month?" Kimberley spoke up quickly.

"Barring any kind of event or situation, yes." Sam nodded to her.

"Do we have to go back home? Can we visit your Earth?" Kimberley questioned.

Sam frowned. "It would be a good idea to keep in touch with your friends and family back home, and as most of the expedition is not as lucky as you are, if you ask them their opinion they would advise you to take it."

"What about going to your Earth?" Kimberley asked again.

"Our puddle jumpers aren't capable of going through to their Earth." Dara pointed out. "The way Catherine made up the jumper causes a big massive warning light to come on and various warning signals."

"Oh." She nodded and looked to the papers, her head flying up once more.

Sam sighed. 'This is going to be a long briefing.' "How about I get Dara started on her training and then come back and answer all your questions Kimberley?"

The youngest female nodded.

"Can you show me the way?" Dara asked Carter, who nodded.

Once they were out of ear shot Dara shook her head at Sam. "What?"

"She's going to ask so many questions, and a lot of them basic and repetitive." Dara warned.

The leader of the expedition, a season warrior and galaxy renound astrophysicist stopped walking. 'Crap.'

o0o

Dara smiled to Evan Lorne as he nodded to her. "Major Lorne."

"Miss Baldwin." He replied.

In sync they both began to laugh.

"So, you're going to show me how to shoot a gun?" Dara asked.

"Yeah, and hopefully you'll hit the bad guys and not any of your team members asses." He nodded.

"Do I get to walk about with one of these puppies?" Dara fingered the P90 she had been given when first entering the shooting range.

"Ahh, that may be a bit too powerful for your first time." He explained and gently took it away from her, handing her a 9 mill in stead.

Dara nodded, and tried not to look too crestfallen at being handed the weaker piece.

"I'm just going to see how much you know about guns, then I'll fill in the blanks before your mission tomorrow." Lorne explained, handing her a set of ear muffs.

"Wait, what?" Dara demanded. "A mission when now?"

"Tomorrow, didn't Col. Carter tell you?" Lorne looked surprised, then understanding. "You are going with AT1-"

"What?" She was freaking out now. "I'm going to get killed!"

"Its just a peaceful mission to find trading partners." Lorne tried to sooth her.

"I'm going to get killed!" Dara repeated. "What am I wearing, a red shirt? Bulls eye on my back?"

"What? No you'll be fine!" Lorne was confused. "I'm sure Col. Sheppard will keep a close eye on you and keep you safe from harm."

"I bet he will." Dara muttered darkly, then looked to him. "Show me how to use everything, because knowing what I know, I'm going to need it."

"You know what you know? What do you know? How do you know?" Lorne asked, a confused look falling over his face, head tilted to the side slightly.

"Uh, you guys are a TV show..." Dara began, wondering how Lorne, LORNE! was missed out in the Atlantis grape vine.

"A TV show? Who plays me?" He butted in.

"Kavan Smith." Dara replied instantly.

"Whose that?" Lorne asked.

"The guy who looks just like you." Dara replied. 'Of course he doesn't know who he is, they probably don't exist in this reality!'

o0o

John entered the sparring room as Ronon punched Dara, causing her to fly downwards onto the mat. "Baldwin!"

With that shout he ran towards them, calling for a time out for Ronon. Bending down he checked no where was bleeding before running his hands over her body, checking her out for any broken bones.

"Get off, get off!" Dara ordered, sitting up and glared at him. She then changed her attention (and head position) to look at Ronon. "How about two against two?"

"Sure." Ronon grinned.

"We don't have another person." John tried to get out of it.

"Is my liver not chopped?" Teyla asked from the side lines.

"What?" Dara and John asked in sync.

Teyla blushed. "It was something I over heard Kimberley saying the other day."

John rolled his eyes at the other alternate earthlings name. Dara caught the end of his eye roll and gave him one back.

"How about me and her." Ronon pointed to Dara, who looked at little weirded out. "Against you two."

John shrugged, figuring he and Teyla could hold off Ronon and Dara wouldn't be too tough. "Sure, first set to call uncle out?"

Everyone agreed and Ronon helped Dara up, who flexed her limbs before motioning for Ronon, who bent down to speak with her.

John watched as she whispered to him and he nodded. Ronon stood opposite John, while Dara stood opposite Teyla.

Someone counted down from 3 from the sidelines.

"Go!"

John stood dumbfounded as Dara ran towards him, jumping out of the way at the last second.

Dara twirled in a circle and watched him, keeping her feet apart and arms up.

John began walking around her, not noting as Teyla and Ronon stopped sparing to watch them from the side lines.

"Are we gonna stand here and look pretty or get something done?" Dara called to him.

"I could think of something more productive to do." John replied, eyes roaming her body for weakness.

"Eyes up here Sheppard." She snapped her hands. "And you're thinking what I think your thinking, you better have a good physician."

"Why?" John asked, walking to the left as she began to walk closer to him.

Dara just smirked and rush forward. John twisted to escape her fast hands and fancy foot work stopped him from stumbling. Dara continued forward, her arms close to her body as she tried to get him on the ground.

John saw an opening and darted forward, his hands curled into fists and hit the side of her body, causing Dara to gasp in sudden loss of breath.

Feeling bad John stopped his advance and looked to Dara in worry. Dara took this time to catch her breath and glare at him, sweeping her feet under him, causing him to fall to the ground and bang his head off the mat.

Dara quickly moved to sit on his chest, arms pinning his to the side. She moved up to sit just above his ribs, leaving his legs useless in defence.

John gasped for breath and looked up at her. And smirked. "So you like it on top?"

Dara glared even more at him and use his own arms to smack him on the side of his head.

"Ow!"

"Call uncle!" Dara demanded.

"Never!" He mock yelled, wincing as she brought his hands up to hit him again.

And again.

And again.

"Say it!" Dara nearly screamed.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

Dara smirked and let go of him, shaking her head at Ronon taking something from one of the petty officers that were watching the match.

Looking down at John she held her hand down to him, helping him up. "Am I good for gate travel?"

"Sure." John replied, brushing off his training clothes for a distraction.

"Sure?" Dara didn't like the way he said that.

"Once you get past your psyche eval." He grinned.

o0o

Kimberley and Sam entered the mess hall, the latter glad for any other kid of conversation.

The duo spotted Dara hanging at the buffet table, looking over her options.

"Hey Dara!" Kimberley shouted.

Dara turned around and smiled at Kimberley, waving her over.

Kimberley sped walked to her friend, giving Sam a short break before she joined the two girls.

"I heard you took Sheppard." Kimberley gushed. "How? Were you dirty?"

"No I was not-well, not too much." Dara admitted with a cheeky grin.

"So when do you get off world?" Kimberley asked.

"Once I have my psychological evaluation with Doctor Heightmyer." Dara sighed.

"Huh?" Kimberley looked confused.

"It's because we need to know how she would respond to basic stressors before placing her into dangerous and unsettling situations." Sam explained.

"But she doesn't need to." Kimberley pointed out.

"Excuse me?" Dara and Sam asked in sync.

Kimberley blushed under their intense stares. "As Dara, and by extension my self, are classified as 'aliens' and 'allies', we are not to undergo any type of testing that may be deemed against our ways of living."

"But how is having a psyche evaluation going to do that?" Dara asked.

"It could bring up confrontational memories that could be banned from our culture." Kimberley explained, then took a relaxed defensive stance, placing most of her weight on her right leg and brought her left one forward. "And Teyla and Ronon didn't need one before they joined SGA1."

"FART 1." Dara corrected, then looked at her friend. "Wow, when did you get smart?"

Kimberley shrugged. "Its because it has some thing to do with-hey!"

o0o

Not long after Sam had looked at, triple check and swore at the final print in the girls contracts, Dara was being suited up for the BDU's and the teams mission time table was pushed up a day.

Outside the changing rooms Dara stood a little shell shocked with Teyla, and Kimberley, who couldn't quite believe her friends luck. "Oh my God Dara, you'll be the first one of us to set foot on an alien planet!"

"And what's Atlantis, the next door country?" Dara asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

"The changing rooms are this way." Teyla smiled to Dara, beckoning her to follow her into the female changing rooms and avoid any kind of argument that the two girls may get into.

"Bring her back in one piece yeah?" Kimberley asked, worry filling her to the core, any previous argument forgotten about.

"I will do my very best." Teyla bowed her head.

Kimberley bit her lip and nodded before grabbing Dara for a hug.

Dara squeaked as Kimberley crushed her ribs. "Hey, watch it Buffy!"

"Sorry Dara." She replied and let go, biting her lip again. "Just, promise me you'll try to stay safe yeah?"

Rolling her eyes Dara just nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine, now let me go have an adventure."

Kimberley nodded and released her friend, a frown still on her face. 'Something doesn't feel right.'

"We'll be back in a few days, try not to destroy the place while I'm gone eh?" Dara asked, poking Kimberley in the side.

"I make no promises." Kimberley promised, then squeed. "You're walking through an honest to friggen God Stargate! Do you know how crazy this is?"

'About as much as you.' Dara thought before speaking. "I'll see you in a few days."

The girls hugged again and each went their separate ways.

o0o

"Lookin' good Miss Baldwin." Mack grinned to Dara as she fiddled with the P90 in her hands, stepping away as she looked at him. 'Still not completely over the New Years thing then.'

"Okay everyone, just to remind you all we are simple explorers looking to exchange tools and wisdom, possibly medicines, for other awesome tools and yummy crops." John reminded them as he stepped closer to the gate. He looked up at Chuck and nodded for him to start the dialling sequence. "Its also Baldwin's first mission, so lets hope we don't get ambushed again."

A few of Macks team grumbled about Johns work choice tempting fate. Dara ignored them to step closer to the gate, awe filling her heart. It may not be the first time she went through it, but this was the first time she would step though the gate.

As the last chevron locked, the connection was created and the wormhole was born, the energy whooshed out towards her.

Dara felt a yank of excitement course through her heart, then spread through her entire being before pulsing in her head like a gentle vibration.

'I'm going to walk though the Atlantis Stargate - me, a cake decorator from Crapsville Michigan!' Dara thought, hoping her excitement wasn't seeping through every pour. 'Oh man life just doesn't get much better than this!'

"Okay guys, move out!" John ordered and entered the gate.

Dara walked towards the gate and placed her hand in front of her, taking a breath as she felt the strange texture of the Stargate. It felt chilly cold, but nothing she wasn't used to, and oddly soft; not velvet but something like it.

Taking a deep breath she tried to get the grin off of her face as she stepped forward, walking through the gate with her eyes open, blinking as she stepped through the event horizon on another planet - ANOTHER PLANET!

Dara lifted her feet to continue walking, eager to get off of the stone structure base of the Stargate and walk on an alien world when Ronon grabbed her arm as she stepped through and dragged her to the side.

Dara flailed her arms a little then noticed it was so that she didn't go flying into the much trap below them.

Dara bent over and laughed at the sight of Sheppard covered in muck. After regaining her breath she turned to Ronon. "Thanks."

He nodded to her.

John glared at Ronon who grabbed McKay, then glared even further when he heard a shutter going off in the direction of Dara. "Did you just take a picture?"

Daras hands flew to her backpack. "No."

John continued to glare at her.

"I'm reading only a few life signs." Rodney called out and the gate dissengadged.

"Where? How many?" John asked.

"Wait, whats with all the trees?" Dara asked.

Teyla looked at the trees and frowned. "This is an area of the planet that does not have many trees; is this a lot compared with your Earth?"

Dara looked confused. "What? No! Its just, first mission and everything, I just had to erm, you know what, never mind."

"As I was saying." Rodney brought all attention to him. "There are roughly four douzen life signals about a click to the west."

"You up for your first Alien excercise?" John spoke quietly to Dara as he passed her to take point.

"And here I thought keep you out of trouble was my first one?" Dara smirked.

John frowned at her, then turned his back on her. "Lets get a move on people; I want a shower!"

o0o

Twenty five minutes, fourteen complaints from Rodney and two death threats from Dara to Rodney later, they arrived at the village settlement.

"I'm just saying, walking in these boots is not good for my health!" Rodney complained again.

"And I'm just saying if you keep complaining my fist is going to be bad for your health." Dara threatened again.

"Will you two knock it off!" John demanded and whirled around. "All I've been hearing since we left the gate is a complaints about this, death threats about that, take some time to smell the alien flowers will ya and stop distracting everyone!"

With that John whirled round on the spot and walked into a chest. Looking up his eyes widened at the sight of the warrior Wraith.

"Shoulda taken your own advice." Dara muttered as they were all shot with Wraith stunners, some of them several times.

o0o

"Any word from AT1?" Kimberley asked Chuck as she handed in another batch of completed forms.

"No not yet, but they're not due to check in for another few hours." The gate tech replied, then frowned. "Isn't that like the eighth bundle you've taken in today?"

"Yeah, if I didn't know any better I would suspect Col. C of trying to keep me snowed under with paperwork!" Kimberley laughed, heading into Sams office.

o0o

Slowly Dara woke up to a pounding headache. 'Please don't be stuck in a Hive Ship, please don't be stuck in a Wraith hive Ship!'

Opening her eyes she swore. 'Damn and I even said please!'

As her head continued to pound she tried some meditating breathing exercises to bring it down to a manageable level, silently wondering if she should have taken Kimberley advice and had a hidden pouch of them in her boot.

"Damnit it!" She heard a voice, Rodneys, swear to her left. "The pouch burst!"

Dara turned her to head and sniggered at the sight of his black sock clad foot covered in a white powder.

"We all here?" John asked.

"I'm not." Dara answered.

John rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

"I'm not here mentally, doesn't that count?" Dara pointed out.

John forwned and moved over to her. "Does your head hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Dara batted his hands away. "I was joking you clown."

Rodney shivvered, then put his boot back on. "Can we please get out of here?"

"Where's Ronon and Teyla?" Dara asked.

"We are out here." Teylas voice called from the hallway.

John held his hand out to Dara who ignored it and stood up onder her own power. Ignoring his slightly annoyed (and crest fallen) face she made her way over to the cage door and poked her head out, and stared at the sight of Ronon and Teyla cocunned to the wall. "You've got to be fricken kidding me!"

"Ahh, I see you have awoken." A Wraith spoke to the group as they came around the corner, flanked by two guards.

"Todd!" John growled and bumped Dara out of the way to glare at his some times freindly enemy. "What do you want with us?"

Todd sneared at them and one of the guards motioned for them to step back. They did so and the door was opened, but before any of them could escape one of them hit Todd on the back with his stun gun and knocked the Wraith inside the cell, locking it quickly.

Slowly the Wraith turned and observed them, pausing his eyes as he spotted Dara. "Who is this?"

John answered the question that was directed at him. "Wraith exterminator."

Dara rolled her eyes. "Civilian consultant." 'OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!'

Todd inclined his head. "It is a pleasure to meet one of the humans who does not quake at the sight of my presence."

'TODD THE FRIGGEN WRAITH! TODD! WRAITH TODD!' Dara nodded her head. "Nothing to quake about. I'm Dara, nice to meet you Todd."

"Ahh, I see my presense if known vastly through the galaxy." He sneered/smiled.

Dara shrugged. 'Holy crap I'm actually having a conversation with .Wraith!' "I've heard a little. I mostly recognised you through your tattoo."

'She's taking this really well.' John thought, watching the two of them interact. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Dara denied. "Oh, talking to the Wraith, right, sorry."

"I am merly on this vesel without the expressed permission from their commander." Todd smiled.

"Ya mean you snuck on board to kill them and steal their technology?" John rephrased.

"You humans, must you boil everything down to the simplest of tricks." Todd sneered.

"Hey, you guys suck the life outta people, we gotta have some kind of balance." Dara pointed out.

"Am I the first Wraith that you have encountered?" Todd asked Dara, stepping closer to her.

Dara stood still. "No."

"The first one you have spoken with, and been in the same enclosed space?" He added, stepping closer once more.

Dara stepped one foot back. "Maybe."

"I suspected as much." He sneered.

"Can we maybe think about how we are getting out of here?" Rodney brought their attention to him.

"Got any knives on you?" John asked.

"Here." Dara held out a swiss army knife, a pen knife and a ceramonial dagger to him.

"Where the hell did you hide those?" John demaned.

"Hide what?" Ronon asked.

"These." Dara held them out ot show him.

"Nice." Ronon nodded to her.

"How's your aim?" John asked.

Dara looked at him like he was nuts. "I just need one knife."

John nodded and watched her walk up and down the door, ignoring Rodneys instrctions about where to stand, where to aim, how hard to throw, how hard to breathe..."What are you doing?"

Dara looked over at him from where she was examining the structure of the door holding them in. Her knife hovvered in mid air. "I wanted to see if I could cut this thing."

"You don't think we tried that?" John looked at her like she was her friend. "We aren't complete idiots you know."

Dara nodded, then looked at the bars again. With a shrug she bent down a little and put her arms in front of her, dropping the knife form her hand to the outside ground and thrust her hands through. Her arms followed and she squiggled about to get her shoulders then chest through the gap.

John watched in utter fascination as she placed her hands on the ground and used the structure of the cell door to bring her body out, holding in the air for a second before her balance caught up with her and she tumbling backwards, her legs flying out of the cell and landed the same time as her back.

"Ohh that was close." Dara spoke mostly to herself, the knife inches from her body.

Instantly Dara jumped up and grabbed the knife, making her way over to Ronon. After examining the cucoon she pulled a section of it towards her and began cutting, working her way from one side of Ronon to the other.

After a few minutes both Ronon and Teyla were free. Rodney was giving them directions on how to open the cell door.

"Now hit it just to the-over on the- the left!-the other left! Oh for the love of- move to the left!" Rodney exclaimed and Ronon had enough.

He raised Daras knife in the air and plunged it into the wall and waited.

"Well that didn't do anything did it?" Rodney asked. "Now, will you aim it a bit more to the-"

PLUNGE.

"WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT?" He shouted at him.

PLUNGE. PLUNGE. PLUNGE.

"Ronon!" Rodney moaned, then turned to John. "Make him stop!"

"Ronon I don't think its-working." John stopped speaking as the power left the area they were in, but the door didn't open.

"See! You see what you did!" Rodney continued to moan.

Dara 'hmmed' before taking the knife out - and giving the area power once more. She lifted the knife high, closed her eyes and though hapy thoughts.

Swish.

"How the- how did you _do_ that?" Rodney asked, stumbling forward to look closely at Dara. "Did you hit your head on the ground?"

"It was slippy and weird feeling but-hey!" Dara glared at him.

"As much as this human interaction is enlightening on your mating rituals, I must take my leave." Todd began and turned away.

"Oh no you don't buddy." Dara threw her arm out to stop him walking. 'Just keep an eye on his arm. You'll be alright if you keep an eye on his arm.'

Todd looked down at Daras arm, and then to her face. "I am curious; how did you know the correct place to enter the knife?"

Dara put her arm at her side and shrugged. 'Besides it being the only spot in the wall that wasn't shredded?' "I've seen pictures and videos of Hive Ships before and remembered where the relief buttons where."

Todd cocked his head and regarded the female in a new light. "I know of an exit to the ship, we have not yet left the planet."

"Do we follow him?" Dara asked John, who nodded after a slighlt pause.

"Todd has an understanding with us, he helps us and we keep Ronon from killing him." He explained.

Dara thought of the information that Todd would give them in the future, that he had gave them in the past and what he was doing for them now and nodded. 'If you think about it, he's kinda like Rodney. I did NOT just compare Merideth McKay with a Wraith! If he finds out about this I'll have cold water for a month!'

Turning to Todd, who was leading the group as they moved through the maze of corridors, Dara spoke directly to him. "What were you on the hive for?"

"Several things. Most things that you humans would not understand." Todd lifted his lip and snarled at her.

"Survival, espionage and getting back at someone?" Dara guessed, correctly she assumed as Todd stopped walking and regarded her again. "What?"

"You are unusually perceptive for a female human." he spoke quietly. "What makes you suggest those reasons?"

Dara shrugged her shoulders. "If you want to survive you need to surround yourself with like minded people, but in order to do that you need to be accepted by them. And the fact that the Queen and commander of the ship did not kill you means that you have fought with them in the past and they want to aggravate you more before killing your slowly and painfully." 'Holy Hannah I'm having an actual conversation with a Wraith!'

"Can we cut the chit-chat till we're nearer the Stargate?" Rodney demanded, turning to look at the two who had fallen behind the group.

"Aren't you supposed to lead?" Dara asked Todd, who looked at her again before nodding and made his way to the front.

o0o

An hour or so later the gate sprung to life and Kimberley tapped her foot. 'I really gotta use the bathroom.'

Chuck looked to her and laughed. "Why don't you head Kimberley, AT1 aren't due to report or check in again for another-recieving AT1's code."

"I want a medical team at the gate room now." Carter ordered as she entered the command hub. "Are we receiving any radio transmition?"

"Not yet ma'am." Chuck shook his head.

Sam nodded. "Lower the shield then."

Everyone in the Stargate Operations room watched with baited breath for AT1 and guest to come through the gate, many of them hoping it wasn't under their own power.

Teyla and Rodney walked through first, with Ronon and Dara next. There was a pause and wait until John came frowning through the gate.

Kimberley and Sam walked down the stairs and arrived the same time as the medical team.

"So, you're all in once piece?" Kimberley asked, stopping beside Dara and grabbing her for a hug.

John rested his hand on his P90 and looked back at his group before nodding.

Kimberley smiled. "That's good." Then exploded. "Why the hell didn't you check in on time!"

"Well, there was a situation." John spoke mostly to Carter.

"What kind of a situation." Carter was afraid to ask.

"I don't need to go through Wraith 101 tomorrow." Dara sung to Kimberley, who moaned.

"Aw man, that's so not fair! Who did you met?" She asked Dara.

"It isn't fun and games meeting the Wraith." John replied the same time as Dara. "Todd."

"Ohh that would be so cool!" Kimberley tried to ignore John.

"Are listening to what I'm saying?" John was beginning to get furious.

"Why don't we continue this in the debriefing room?" Sam interviened, and everyone bar Kimberley and the medical team walked up stairs.

o0o

Later on Kimberley grabbed Dara as she finished her first post-mission check up and was given the all clear.

"I just heard through the grape vine, you took Ronons advice and none of mine?" Kimberley asked.

"I took some of your advice." Dara defended.

Kimberley snorted. "Like what?"

"Remember rule number 12." Dara pointed out.

Kimberley rolled her eyes, then asked. "So, how was meeting your first Wraith?"

Dara thought about it for a second. "it was interesting, but weird."

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "Well duh!"


	11. Meeting Mister Richard Woolsey

A few days had passed since Daras meeting with Todd the Wraith.

Things began to settle into a routine, with Kimberley filling in paper work, Dara training with Ronon and Teyla, Kimberley filling in more paper work, Lorne teaching Dara how to shoot a gun more effectively and Kimberley filling even more paper work.

Dara turned her head from her own paper work of homework that Lorne had assigned her to look at the large mounds that Kimberley was slowly working her way through. "That is a lot of paper work."

"I'm beginning to think Col. C doesn't want me to go off world." Kimberley sighed. "Did you do this much paper work? In one night?"

"Yeah-almost." Dara nodded. "But You'll probably be going off world more than me, so Col. Carter is probably trying to get more information on negotiations to seep through."

"Huh?" Kimberley looked up confused, her glasses a skewed on her face.

"Well, if your off world a lot, and most probably with AT1, you'll be in a lot of sticky situations." Dara explained.

"Hmm." Kimberley agreed and fixed her glasses, resuming her reading.

A few seconds later her pen hit the paper. "Okay, I need a distraction!"

Dara glared over at her. "You are not making a keno to spy on Carson!"

"A what?" Kimberley asked.

"Its from this video game, its like a floating CCTV system..." Dara trailed off, realising she was probably giving Kimberley an idea. "Anyway lets go get some dinner."

"Okay." Kimberley agreed.

o0o

Rodney looked around the mess hall before spotting Ronon and Teyla. He made his way towards his team mates and sat down with his dinner. "Has anyone seen Sheppard?"

"Meeting." Ronon answered and continued to shovel his food into his mouth.

"Meeting? What kind of meeting?" Rodney demanded. "Why wasn't I informed? I'm the head of science!"

"Maybe it was a military thing." Ronon spoke through his food.

"Yes, but no doubt it will soon become _my _problem." Rodney snarked.

"Must you be so pessimistic Rodney?" Teyla asked, alternating between bouncing Torren on her knee and looking at the scientist.

Rodney was spared from answering as his ear piece came to life, demanding his presence in the area of main operations.

"He's going to be even more insufferable." Ronon murmured to Teyla.

"Yes, but for now he is from our hair." Teyla smiled shortly, then turned to Torren. "Why will you not settle?"

"Awww, who is that little guy?" A new voice added from behind Teyla.

Teyla and Ronon turned their heads to see Dara and Kimberley standing behind them with trays of food.

Teyla smiled at them. "This is Torren, my son."

Kimberley looked at Dara, completely freaked out. Dara slowly turned her head to look at Kimberley, then kicked her leg before hissing. "Chill out."

"Is something wrong?" Teyla asked.

"No, nothing wrong just, part of the reason we came here was to stop erm, when was the last time you guys saw Michael?" Dara asked.

"We should not speak of unpleasant things as we eat." Teyla made a face. "Please, sit."

As Teyla continued to bounce Torren on her knee Dara and Kimberley sat on the vacant chairs.

Both girls began to eat their meals, then Kimberley turned her attention to Torren, who continued to gurgle unhappily. "Is he okay?"

"He has not settled after his meal. I am unsure as to why." Teyla stated.

Kimberley swallowed the piece of chicken she was chewing and placed her fork down before motioning to Torren. "Can I?"

"You should finish your meal first." Teyla rejected.

"The same could be said for you." Kimberley shot back.

Teyla looked to her untouched meal and sighed.

"Its not cheating to get a little help when the wee ones being uncooperative." Kimberley smiled to them.

Teyla could feel her stomach begin to gurgle at the thought of a large meal and looked to Torren, then to Kimberley, and finally to Ronon and Dara who both nodded. Teyla nodded herself and lifted her infant son to pass to Kimberley.

Kimberley took him within her hands, then fumbled with him like she was going to drop him. "Whoa."

"Torren!" Teyla shouted and everyone turned to look at her.

Torren giggled.

"Well hello their little baby alien guy, how are ya?" Kimberley asked him and cocked her head, blinking owlishly at him. "Am I a new person? Yes I am. I'm Kimbo, can you say Kimbo?"

"He's like six months!" Dara rolled her eyes at her friend.

Torren began to grumble.

"Awww, that was Dara, can you say Dara?" Kimberley asked and shifted the toddler to look at Dara. "Do you want to see crazy Dara?"

"Do not give the kid to me!" Dara waved her hands, with utensils still in holding, in the air.

"Never mind her." Kimberley placed Torren on the table and slouched down so they were at eye level. "How are ya little guy? You enjoying Atlantis? Or prefer the main land?"

Torren made a movement with his fist, bumping her head as if to say 'I'm six months old! What are you talking about crazy lady?'

Teyla paused from her inhalation of her meal to stare at Kimberley interacting with her young. "How many children do you have?"

"Who me?" Kimberley held Torrens hips as she turned her attention to Teyla. "None! Good God, who would think me and kids are a good idea?"

"But you have managed to settle Torren. He has been in this mood for quite some time." Teyla was beginning to think Kimberley was more crazy than she let on. 'Is she a danger to my child?'

"Oh, right. I'm good with other peoples children, but nope, not got any of my own." Kimberley shook her head, then lifted Torren to her lap and wriggled his arms around. "If you ever need a babysitter and are all outta options, I can do it."

"I will keep that in mind." Teyla said as Torren laughed excitedly.

o0o

As everyone had finished their lunch they decided to see what those who were in charge were up to.

Teyla and Dara led with pack, with Ronon keeping a watchful eye on Kimberley who held Torren on her hip and pulled faces at him.

"You're good with kids." Ronon pointed out.

Kimberley looked up at him a little shocked. "Huh?"

"Torren can be a screamer. He's really calm." He pointed out.

"Huh, I never imagined any off spring of Teylas being loud apart from on the battle field." Kimberley replied, then looked down to Torren. "But you wouldn't know anything about battle fields, would ya?"

A sudden smell caught her nose. "Uh Teyla?"

Teyla and Dara turned around.

"Not that I don't love kids, or even changing nappies since I used to be an old folks carer, but your son needs a changing and I just don't know him or you that good enough." Kimberley rambled.

Teyla smiled. "It is al right Kimberley, thank you for watching him for as long as you have, it has been nice to have a small break from him."

"Any time." Kimberley bopped her head and handed Torren over to Teyla, who said her good byes and left to go to her quarters. "Should we keep going to the hub?"

"Meh, we're most of the way any way." Dara shrugged her shoulders, then looked to Ronon. "You in?"

He shrugged his shoulders and they continued walking.

Inside the main base of operations there was a flurry of activity. Ronon snagged a passing member of personnel. "What's going on?"

"The IOA is visiting." They replied, then looked at the ground. "Can you put me down please?"

Ronon placed the man on his feet, then the trio made their way past the computers and Stargate and towards Col. Carters office.

Dara entered the room first and paused at the door, causing Kimberley to bump into Ronon.

"Mister Woolsey?" Dara spoke quietly, wonder in her head. 'Nothing good can come of this.'

"Yes?" Woolsey turned his head and looked at Dara, then at Ronon behind her, and finally Kimberley. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Who are you?"

"These are the two that we have been talking about." Sam introduced. "Dara Baldwin and Kimberley Ann Boyce."

"Miss Baldwin, Miss Boyce." Woolsey inclined his head.

There was a silence as the girls looked over Richard Woolsey for the first time. His suit was freshly pressed, his head was seriously bald and he looked like he needed a spa month.

Dara noted the way he held a briefcase in one hand, and had a single pen in his breast pocket.

Kimberley noted the look of distain he unconsciously sent her way.

"The IOA would like to interview each of the girls before they are allowed off world." Woolsey explained eyes flitting between the two girls.

"Uh, little late for that." Dara commented.

Woolsey looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"Dara kinda went off world the other day." Kimberley explained.

"Well then, I think I should get started." Woolsey nodded mostly to himself. Turning to Sam he asked. "Is there a room I may use?"

"You can use my office." Sam offered.

"This office will not suffice as there is no security." Woolsey dismissed.

Dara looked back to the two special force marines following them, the dozen or so marines in the gate room and all of the gate techs and turned back to him. "Why not use the conference room?"

"Good idea Dara, hey, whose first?" Kimberley asked.

"As Miss Baldwin has already been off world, I should interview your self Miss Boyce." Woolsey decided, turning after a nod of his head to Kimberley towards the conference room.

"Should I follow him?" Kimberley asked Dara, who shrugged.

"I dunno." She replied.

Woolsey turned at the door to see if Kimberley was following him. "Miss Boyce? Today please."

o0o

Kimberley sat on one of the chairs while Woolsey set up his stuff, moving his note book and Dictaphone before taking her pen out of his pocket and uncapping it. After pressing the record button he coughed and looked to Kimberley, who jumped and placed her hands under her legs to stop fidgeting with them.

"Miss Boyce, you claim to be from an Alternate Reality. Is this correct?" Woolsey asked.

"Uhh, I think so." Kimberley nodded.

"These answers merely need a yes or a no, miss Boyce, there is not much thinking beyond this." Woolsey responded.

"Well, if you think about it." Kimberley paused and took a breath. "Realities are relative, and unless there is proper research done we could just be in an alternate time line, universe, galaxy which is similar to our own, we could all be in comas, on really strange drugs, or we could be clones made by the Asguard with adapted memories to make us think that we are in a different world."

Woolsey looked at her in silence, his pen hovering over the word 'yes'.

After a few minutes of silence Kimberley opened her mouth, pausing as he lifted his hand.

Kimberley slowly closed her mouth. 'I think I broke his brain.'

Woolsey quietly placed his hand on the desk, then put his pen down. His hands came together and clasped themselves in front of him. "Miss Boyce, I think its time we have a tea break. If you could fill in some sheet of information for me and we can reconvene at say, 0900 hours tomorrow?"

"But we just started!" Kimberley replied, then nodded at his look. "Sure thing Mister Woolsey. Are there lots of bits of paper? Because Col. C has given me a bundle and-"

"Col. Carter allows you to call her Col. 'C'?" Woolsey interrupted.

Kimberley's face flushed. "No, no. Its a nickname I have for her to make her less scary."

"You find Col. Carter too intimidating to work with?" Woolsey asked.

"No, no, its because she's in a position of authority." Kimberley tried to explain.

"So you do not do well with authority?" Woolsey raised an eye brow.

"No, no, kinda but-you're mixing me up." Kimberley accused.

"I see. Well in any case, if you could fill in these forms and have them ready by tomorrow morning." Woolsey stood up and opened his brief case, selecting a bundle and placed them on the desk for Kimberley to take.

Kimberley's face drained of color. "No more paper work!"

"Excuse me?" Woolsey tried to hear from his right ear.

"All I've been doing since I arrived here is paper work- I know I screwed up with Michael but still, give a girl a break I was seriously out of my mind at that moment in time!" She stomped her foot and turned to leave the conference room, not bothering to turn around as Woolsey called after her.

o0o

Dara stood outside the conference room with Ronon beside her. "I know why I'm here, what are you doing here?"

"Kimberley finished her physical training forms, after meeting with Woolsey she's coming with me." He explained, then shuffled against the wall. "Why are you here?"

"To pick up the pieces." She replied off handily, then looked to him. "I know they are going to break each others brains enough that they won't go near each other again, I'm just here to support them to either Heightmyer or Carson."

Ronon raised an eye brow. "You think it'll get physical?"

"Not with each other." She shook her head, standing to attention as the door began to open and Kimberley stormed out.

"NO. MORE. PAPER WORK!" The younger girl shouted and the door closed quickly.

Ronon and Dara looked at each other before the original alien nodded and went after her, leaving Dara to look in the conference room and prepare for a mess.

After the door opened she poked her head in, straightening up as she noticed Mister Woolsey was in one piece and free from any obvious bruising or mental breakdowns. "Everything okay in here?"

Woolsey blinked and looked to Dara. "Everything is...fine Miss Baldwin."

Dara nodded. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Woolsey continued to look at Dara. "Not at the moment Miss Baldwin. However, could you meet me here in say, an hours time?"

"Sure." Dara agreed and left the room without a backwards glance, mind focused on finding her friend before she could do any damage to anyone or thing. 'If she even thinks about touching my puddle jumper!'

Dara looked for Kimberley in their living quarters, in the nearby hot spots, the secondary puddle jumper bay, mess hall and infirmary before thinking she might by with Carson, until Jennifer Keller told her Carson was in his room.

'She's not that fast...' Dara contemplated, then shook her head, deciding to go up to the main control and ask them to find Kimberley by using her ear piece signal.

After exiting the transporters Dara walked to Chuck consol and leaned on it, smiling to the gate tech. "Hey Chuck, any chance you could find Kimberley for me?"

Chuck pointed down and grinned.

"Hey!" Daras face took on a look of outrage.

"Have a look." He whispered.

Giving him the evil eye Dara walked around to his side of the consol and stared.

Kimberley was sitting with her legs in front of her, headphones on and paperwork surrounding her.

"What is she doing?" Dara asked.

"Paper work." Chuck whispered and they watched her legs twitch.

"Okay, when she's done call me okay? I want to have a chat with her." Dara backed away quietly.

o0o

Time sped by quickly and Dara found herself in front of the conference room doors. With her mind set on ready she rapped her knuckles on the door and waited for Woolsey to open up.

The doors slid open, causing Dara to smile as she thought about Woolsey trying to open the doors when he was in command of Atlantis and just finished a meeting. The smile fell from her lips as she noticed John standing beside Woolsey nodding his head. "I completely agree! Never should have happened in the first place!"

"Ah, Miss Baldwin, there you are." Woolsey turned from John and motioned for her to take a seat.

Dara grabbed one near the exit and as far away from John as possible.

"I would like to talk to you about your associate Miss Boyce." Woolsey spoke after sitting down, John flanking him.

"She's not my associate, she's my friend." Dara corrected.

"At any rate, I would like to begin also by talking about the illicit deal that you have made with Col. Carter and Col. Sheppard about your situation." Woolsey spoke quickly. "Am I to understand that you come from an alternate reality? Yes or no answer please."

Inside Dara smirked, guessing Kimberley had one of her bouts of verbal diarrhoea if he was this twitchy. She nodded her head.

Woolsey seemed to calm down. "And could you tell me, in your own words, why you are here?"

"Well my Dad broke the TV and my mom figured, what the heck." Dara shrugged.

Woolsey did not looked amused.

"You mean, here in Atlantis, right now?" Dara asked. "As you're noticed, Kimberley likes to talk. Well Kimberley opened her mouth too much and I wasn't there to censor it. But we've fixing that problem."

"I've got some duct tape." John offered.

Woolsey continued to not looked amused.

"Miss Boyce should not have been allowed through the gate when you first came here over two years ago never mind come to live here on the end of last month." Woolsey seemed to draw himself taller. "It is in my recommendation that Miss Boyce return to Earth, her own Earth, and you complete your mission to rectify the problems that have been caused."

John nodded, then looked to Dara and shook his head at her angry state.

"How the hell is she gonna learn how to keep her trap shut? This is all about teaching her how to deal with the consequences of her actions, actions that she did not mean to do." Dara pointed out and stood up. 'Never mind we get to also visit Atlantis.'

Woolsey stared up at her. "And how do you know this? Were you not taking part of a Wraith operation at this moment in time?"

"I know because once we got back to our world all Kimberley could talk about for over a year was how much of an idiot she was, how sorry she was and how she wanted to make it up to everyone." Dara sighed. "You've only met her for twenty minutes, imagine having that intensified for about four or five hours a day for fourteen months. I'm surprised I'm not an alcoholic yet."

"Tell her to make a batch of cookies." John replied off handed.

"Do you want food poisoning?" Dara asked, whirling around to glare at him.

"Miss Boyce is a danger to everyone on Atlantis while she is here." Woolsey tried to get back on track.

"Miss Boyce is a danger to Atlantis weather she is here or not." Dara pointed out.

"At any rate, I will be advising Col. Carter and Miss Boyce herself that she return to her home reality." Woolsey explained as he stood up.

"Then I'm going with her." Dara crossed her arms over her chest.

"You are much to valuable to lose. The information that you have retained is more valuable than what Brigadier General O'Neill had when he placed his head in an ancient repository." Woolsey debated.

"Either we both stay, or we both go." Dara shook her head. "That was the deal I made, and that's what I'm sticking with. Kimberley, for all the good that she is, can cause so much trouble when someone isn't around to keep an eye on her. I am not going to leave her in our reality with no one to make sure she isn't getting hurt or taken advantage of, just to keep you guys happy. If you want I can dump all the information I have on the Michael situation on a data pad and leave."

John and Woolsey had two different faces on.

"But that means I take all the other information I have with me; Kolya, Todd, Asurians, nanites, clones, replicators, Ori, Ba'al." Dara trailed off, turned on her heel and began to walk away.

"Wait!" John shouted, his hand out stretched towards her.

Dara stopped, a smirk hidden on her face. "Yes?"

John looked to Woolsey. "They are only here for two years, and Col. Carter has measures in place to keep Kimberley very busy. Dara will be giving us as much information as possible and we have distractions for Kimberley. Its only for two years."

"You are repeating your argument Col. Sheppard." Woolsey pointed out. "I have made my decision and based on Miss Baldwin's argument have decided, for the IOA, Atlantis, Earth and her people, that we will take the information that you have. You are to leave Atlantis once you have completed the information transfer."

"Fair enough." Dara shrugged and left the room, not catching Johns look of dejection.

o0o

Mack closed his eyes and lay down on his bed, not bothering to get under the duvet as his muscles relaxed from a tough day of training. 'Ronon sure was hyped up.'

His door bell chimed and he thought about answering it, then remembered he was going off world in ten hours. 'If its one of the brass they'll call my earpiece.'

Mack turned on his bed and sighed into his pillow, enjoying the silence and slowly falling asleep.

o0o

Dara ran her hand over the door chime again, tapping her foot an annoyance. 'He just went in there! He didn't have time to get to bed or go to the john!'

Huffing an impatience Dara looked around before taking her Swiss Army knife out of her pocket and popped the panel off the wall. Thinking back to the many episodes she had watched she took out the middle crystal, moved the top one down and placed the middle one between the two, causing the door to slide open.

Dara placed the crystals back in their original spots and entered the room as the doors began to close.

o0o

Mack heard his door open but dismissed it, who would know how to break into his Atlantis quarters. Who would want to?

"Oh Mack." Mack lifted his head as the female voice called out to him, yelping in surprise as his covers were torn from under him, his body hitting the floor before jumping up in an attack mode, blinking confusion out of his eyes.

"Miss Baldwin?" He asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a favour."

Alarm bells started ringing.

o0o

Kimberley dotted the I and crossed the T, then sat back in a stunned silence. 'I've finished. It's all done!'

Stretching she was careful not to hit her hand off of the underside of the consol and took her head phones from her head. Looking up she smiled at Amelia. "Hey is Col. Carter in her office?"

Amelia looked over and then back at the girl hiding under the desk. "Nope, she's just went down for some dinner. You all done with the paper work?"

Kimberley's leg twitched. "Yup, all done."

"Do you want to leave it here and I'll give it to Col. Carter when she returns?" She asked.

"Nope." Kimberley replied and stood up, grabbing the huge stack of papers as she finished dusting herself off.

"You are not going to give them to her in the mess hall are you?" Chuck asked as he came back from his bathroom break.

"Why not, she gave me them all in one go." Kimberley shrugged her shoulders.

Amelia and Chuck shared a look.

"See ya later guys." Kimberley waved good bye to them and left, going down the stairs before taking the long route to the mess hall, walking past three transporters as she did so.

o0o

Mack stared at Dara.

Dara stared at Mack.

Mack started to snore.

Dara smacked Mack.

"84!" Mack shouted, jumping up slightly.

"Well, do you think it will work?" Dara asked.

"I don't know Miss Baldwin, you'd need to get Dr Lee on board with some pretty sweet bribe and time everything just right." Mack paused at her grinning face. "But I have to ask, why a death ray?"

Dara shrugged. "That way this will be sorted one way or another."

o0o

Kimberley entered the mess hall and looked around for Col. Carter. At the last second she spotted Richard Woolsey beckoning her over.

She looked around for an escape route, and finding none, cleared her face and walked over to the annoying Chi-Fu like man. "Mister Woolsey."

"Miss Boyce." He nodded to her. "Please, have a seat. Are you feeling any more calm?"

Kimberley sat down with a thump, slammed the papers on the desk and glared at him openly.

'I guess slightly.' He thought and picked up his cup of imitation coffee, taking a sip then leaving it a little away from her. "I was wondering if we could continue the discussion that we were about to delve into before you had a teenage strop."

'Well excuse me for being 21. Oops, 22.' Kimberley thought to herself. "Sorry about that Mister Woolsey, you just caught me at a bad time. I've been doing paper work ever since I arrived here and it seems like its never ending."

"I accept your apology." Woolsey nodded his head to her.

"Hey, how come your talking to me without there being four smaller walls?" Kimberley asked, noting the volume of people in the mess hall.

"Frankly I am more concerned for my safety than the security of the information you will be giving me, so an open space with multiple witnesses would be better for my health." Woolsey shifted in his seat.

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "I'm really all bark and no bite Mister Woolsey."

"That remains to be seen." He replied.

"Was there something you needed Mister Woolsey, because if not there are more pressing matters that I need to attend to." Kimberley straightened the paper work and prepared to stand.

"I have one question, if you compromise to not bite my head off for asking it." Woolsey paused her.

Kimberley regarded him suspiciously then nodded. "Shoot."

"Why did you tell the Wraith Michael what you did and what do you hope to accomplish by staying on Atlantis?" Woolsey asked.

The slightly more insane than sane girl paused as she thought of an answer. "Michael had two people that I cared about by the throat. I know many would have said to leave them to die, but I couldn't do that, I would not have that on my conscience. Because knowing Michael, he would have kept me alive for a long time in order for me to suffer."

"The report states that you gave him Earths coordinates, the defence of Atlantis and Earth and where to find the ancient city - could you not have given him false information?" Woolsey belatedly suggested.

"I also had a concussion, does your report state that as well?" She snapped.

Woolsey frowned. "There was no mention of the report Miss Baldwin has submitted about you having any medical issue."

Kimberley sat up a little more. 'I knew I forgot to mention something!' "But it doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm here on Atlantis, and together with Dara we are going to fix the problems that I created and hopefully stop as many people from dying. Dara is going to go off world, I am going to keep my mouth shut and a hopeful by product is that other problems, like the Asurians, are dealt with better with more information on your side."

Woolsey stared at the female who, for once, was acting her age.

'Should I ruin this adult moment by saying that I also get to ogle Carson?' Kimberley thought and shook her head internally. 'Naa.'

"Have you not spoken with Miss Baldwin?" Woolsey asked after a long silence.

"No, why? What did she do?" Kimberley asked, then pulled a face. "Ohh, that felt odd to say."

o0o

Dara looked up and around, pausing before entering Doctor Bill Lees temporary office.

"What?" Mack asked.

"I feel a disturbance in the force." Dara replied, then shrugged. "Oh well."

o0o

"Miss Baldwin has made it quite clear that you and herself are to return to Earth once she completes an information package of the Michael situation." Woolsey surmised.

"What about the Ori? And the Asguard? And-and like the billion other things that you guys need help with?" Kimberley was panicking. 'I can't go back so soon!' "It would be irresponsible of us to leave so soon."

"Miss Baldwin has made her case and is set to leave within the week." Woolsey explained.

"Well I ain't leaving." Kimberley crossed her arms over her chest.

"Excuse me?" He asked, watching as Dara, Captain Mack Gordon and currently on loan from the SGC Dr Bill Lee entered the mess hall.

"Dara is a grown woman and can do what she wants, but I am not giving up my life in another reality to come here for a week and then leave, especially when we have so much knowledge of things yet to pass." Kimberley leaned forward, elbows on the table. "I may not know as much as Dara, hell as much as many Stargate fans, but I do know a lot of information, and I will not leave here until I know that all the information inside my brain is being put to good use and has saved at least as many lives as I have endangered."

Woolsey regarded her for a few minutes before nodding. "If you will excuse me, I must report to the IOA."

"Okay, see ya!" Kimberley smiled to him.

Woolsey took his tray to the trolley and placed it where it should be, then crossed the mess hall to Dara. "I am retracting my earlier statement, you are both free to stay in this city as long as you need to, with IOA approval."

Dara nodded to him, and once he left, turned to Mack and Bill with a confused look on her face. "Huh?"

"What about the bribe, can I keep the bribe?" Dr. Lee asked.

"Sure, but I will collect later." Dara nodded.

"What was the bribe?" Mack asked.

"A Halloween costume." Dara smirked.

"Okay. Hey I'm due to leave in a few hours so..."

"Yeah, fine, go get some sleep. You should have been sleeping hours ago." Dara chided him.

Mack stared at her then left with no other words exchanged.

John ran up to Dara. "Dara!"

Dara turned around slowly and looked at him.

"Glad I caught you." He began. "You remember you went on the mission with us a few days ago?"

"Yes." Dara nodded with a 'hurry up' expression on her face.

"Well there's been a new rule introduced, and in order to go off world you need to hand in a report on the mission that you had been on previously." John began. "On your tablet there is a programme that helps with the form filling."

"Okay." Dara replied.

"Just a little warning when you do your report." John spoke quietly to Dara. "Don't start it with in a galaxy far, far away, or end it we all lived happily ever after, apart from who ever got hurt and or killed. earth doesn't like that."

"Jee, and here was me trying to be the next Douglas Adams." Dara looked at him like he needed a few reports to the head. "I already handed mine in this morning."

"Oh-oh, good, well, right then. I'll erm, see you later then." John replied, turning to walk away from her.

Dara rolled her eyes.

John turned around. "Hey you wanna go grab a cup of imitation coffee or something?"

"I'll take the 'or something'." Dara nodded.


	12. Convention

"This is the last time I'm letting either of you two drive!" John Sheppard pointed his finger at Ronon, then Rodney, glaring at each equally.

"Hey it's not my fault that the Conan can't take direction properly." Rodney waved his hand in Ronons direction, causing Teyla to duck back.

Ronon shrugged his shoulders and looked around the room disinterestedly.

"John, perhaps you are taking this issue far too seriously." Teyla tried to placate the men.

"They WRECKED my JUMPER!" John shouted, pointing to the puddle jumper with boot sized dents in it, scratched paint and rusting bolts.

"Then maybe you should not teach them to drive in the middle of a peaceful research mission." Teyla advised. 'Especially when such missions usually turn into ones where we must run for your hides.'

"Fine." John grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, mumbling to him self. "But you're fixing it!"

"Me! But I don't know to fix it!" Rodney complained, not even giving Ronon an edge in.

Slowly a grin formed on his face. "But I do know someone who can."

o0o

Samantha 'Sam' Carter stared at the first line of defence of the Atlantis crew. "You want me to okay a mission to take a puddle jumper to an alternate reality to have a pre-teen MENSA reject pimp it up?"

"Not quite but, yeah." John grinned, nodding towards his commanding officer. "So, can we?"

"I can think of at least five, no, six, different reasons why you shouldn't even be thinking about this." Carter shook her head. "Do you even know how to get to their reality?"

"Through the gate that they left here, to connect the two realities." Rodney replied, bringing up an image on the screen in the middle of the conference room.

"Where is their sister gate?" Carter asked.

"The other gate is hidden behind their moon." Rodney replied, not noticing the looks his team mates were giving him.

"And how do you know this?" John asked, prodding the scientist in the side.

"Remember when we went with Dara to her reality?" Rodney reminded them.

"I bet you took pictures too." John smirked at him.

'How does he know about those?' Rodney wondered.

Before Sam could reply Carson stepped forward. "I'll go with them Col. Carter, and keep them out of trouble."

'The IOA is going to have my ass for this.' Sam thought, then nodded. "Permission granted." 'But at least they'll be out of my hair.'

o0o

Carson Beckett looked over the last of his vast supplies before handing them to the young marine who placed them in the puddle jumper. "Can you keep the emergency food rations in the over head storage compartments please."

"As far away from Rodney's station as possible please." John asked, walking in and leaning against the hatch door. "Almost ready to go doc?"

"Almost." Carson replied, looking at the diminishing supplies as they were placed in the jumper.

"Taking the whole infirmary stock with us?" John questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're not looking for trouble."

"But it does seem tae follow ye." Carson answered.

Before John could reply Rodney, flanked by Ronon and Teyla entered the Jumper room, the former complaining loudly that they had a chaperone.

"I mean, its not like we go looking for trouble!" He complained, stopping inside the Puddle Jumper to read the diagnostic Zelenka had been running, pushing the frazzled Czech out of the way.

"That's what I said!" John replied.

"Just get in the jumper." Carson rolled his eye and mock pointed his finger at the inside of the jumper.

The quartet entered quietly, taking their seats and preparing for their journey.

o0o

Ten minutes in, and after all the missions that they had been on, there was no way Ronon wasn't annoying Rodney on purpose.

"Make him stop!" Rodney whined to Teyla, who raised an eye brow and turned to the Satedan.

"What?" Ronon asked, looking smugly at the only female in the group.

"Ronon, please stop unnerving Rodney." She asked softly, shaking her head once her nodded. 'Men. No matter the planet, they are still childlike.'

"Don't make me turn this ship around boys." John joked from the pilots seat.

"Is it like this every time you go on a mission?" Carson asked Teyla. "I knew it was at the beginning, but this is just ridiculous."

A beeping noise interrupted Teyla from speaking.

"We're at the girls gate. Got that address Rodney?" John asked needlessly, looking over his shoulder at his friend.

Rodney rolled his eyes and wordlessly tapped in the address, smiling faintly as the gate connected, energy whooshing out. 'This is it!'

* * *

"This is it?" Rodney demanded, looking around the busy car park. "This is where the girls are HIDING a piece of ALIEN _TECHNOLOGY_?"

"Technically, the puddle jumper was made by a human girl with human materials, so it is a piece of human technology." Carson replied, looking around the swamped area. "What I want to know is why they are at a Science Fiction Convention."

"I think we had better discuss this inside." Teyla spoke quickly after a group of strangers began to encircle them. "We are gaining un wanted attention."

Quickly the five made their way towards the entrance of the large grey building, looking surprised as they were ushered into a separate door guarded by "one of Ronons freakish mutated brothers."

"Rodney!" Carson diminished.

"What? He does!" The Scientist replied, jerking an arm towards the security man, catching his arm off of someone going in the opposite direction.

Carson stopped, with a sigh, to help him up, straightening quickly when he felt a sudden chill.

"Carson, what's wrong?" Rodney asked, looking up at his close friend.

"Uh Rodney." Carson looked strained as he whipped his head around. "Where are the others?"

* * *

"I do not know John." Teyla replied to her commanding officer. "However, you can let go of my wrist."

"Mine too." Ronon replied gruffly, straining himself to wretch his arm free.

"Sorry, but we have to stick close, we need to find Carson and Rodney, then the girls." John replied sheepishly, letting go of their wrists and rubbing the back of his neck.

"So it would not we wise to split up since we are looking for two parties?" Teyla suggested.

"We've got our radios." Ronon encouraged. "And no one else is dressed like-us."

Ronon looked around the large room and stared, open mouthed, at the males (and females) dressed like him. A group dressed like the Asguard, with various heights and widths.

"Whoa, I didn't know we were this popular!" John whispered.

"John, what is going on?" Teyla asked as Ronon scanned the crowd.

"You remember when I told you guys about the box that people watched?" John asked and watched them nodding. "Well some people, okay, a lot of people, like to meet and talk about the shows."

"And the educational programmes?" Teyla enquired.

"Yeah, not so much. But see, the fans of the shows dress up and act like the characters from the shows, and since they girls have told us that they think we are a TV show, they must be acting like a fan about us." John summed up. "They come here to talk with other fans, play games and competitions, buy mem- err, things, meet the guys who play us on the box and generally have fun."

"What about- RONON NO!" Teyla yelled as Ronon shot forward after someone dressed as Todd.

"AHHHH!" the Wraith screamed and ducked into a foetal position, hands above its head.

John and Teyla grabbed Ronon by the arms and hauled him back, John wincing as the crowd looked at them; whispers broke out.

"Ohh cool Cos play dude!"

"What?" Ronon frowned as the Wraith spoke in a high pitched female voice. 'But its-it's a male wraith-how did-what the-'

"Are you going for the Ronon of Sedeta title?" The Wraith continued, fixing his-her long jacket and patting down their hair, allowing it to slip slightly and show dark brown hair lying underneath.

"Err, you're wigs slipping." John muttered to the Wraith look a like.

"Oh God no! Do you know how much glue I've put on my head!" The girl groaned, putting her hand on her head, but smiling (scarily) at them. "Thanks, I better go fix this!"

The trio waved to the girl as she scampered towards the toilets, John taking a double look as she entered the one marked Wraith (in between the Klingon and Cylons.)

"Maybe I should stick with Ronon, Teyla." John decided, snagging two floor maps from a table to his left, handing one to Teyla. "We'll take the left side of the centre, you take the right. Our radios still work on this frequency and if you really need our help call or subdue them okay, no shots fired."

Teyla looked at him with one eyebrow in the air, her face showing her thoughts. 'I fight with my words and hands John Sheppard, not machines.'

"Err, right, radio in every ten minutes. Well meet at the main stage when we find someone or after an hour." The trio nodded and they separated.

* * *

Dara looked at Kimberley from their spot in the food court line. "I feel a disturbance in the force."

"You gotta go?" Kimberley blinked, looking up from her signed Paul McGilligan poster.

"No. Well yeah, but, something feels different…" Dara trailed off, shrugging her shoulders and turning back into the line.

* * *

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Rodney asked, looking around the strangely quiet room with wonder. "I mean, outside it was jumping with activity, but in here, its pretty dead."

A door opened and a head of white hair greeted them. "Paul, David, there you are!"

"GAH!" Rodney screamed, jumping towards Carson who backed up as Todd the Wraith existed the room. 'Did I HAVE to say DEAD!'

"Whoa, who Zatted you." Todd grinned, showing his full teeth.

"Mommy." Rodney whimpered, feeling his face drain of blood and his body weaken.

"What's wrong with him?" Todd asked Carson, pointing his feeding hand, closed but thumb extended, towards Rodney.

"Eh, he eh, he wasn't expecting ye in yer full costume." Carson replied, looking behind Todd to the name on the door, Christopher Heyerdahl. "How's it going Christopher?"

"How many times do I need to tell you to call me Chris?" Chris shook his head, the grin turning into a smile. "So, where are you two headed? Looking for that girl from last year, and the year before that, and the year before that?"

"What girl?" Carson asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Don't tell me you forgot her already!" Chris waved them to follow him down the corridor, stopping outside a door market security. Looking at a large pin board he scanned it before grabbing a piece of paper from the wall. "Here she is, miss SerenBunny, aka Kimberley Boyce. She arrived her with her friend Dara and two new additions about an hour ago. You gonna go scare her to death again?"

"Well I." Carson paused and blushed.

Chris grinned once more and pointed a finger at him. "You read her sequel, didn't you! The writers told you not do! Dang man, ask her out already."

"It was quite good actually and-wait." That sobered him up. 'I am the Chief Medical Doctor of a highly secret military operation that is concerning two realities right not, I can not act like a love struck puppy.'

"Paul?" Chris asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You in there?"

"Aye Chris, eh, look, I think we need your help." Carson began, motioning for the Wraith actor to come closer. "Is there any way you can find out where exactly she is? So that I can stay clear of her position and avoid the incident."

"Oh we know where she is!" Chris grinned.

o0o

"Shadow medic still following us?" Dara asked as Kimberley turned around for the tenth tine in five minutes.

"Yeah, and they're not even cute." Kimberley pouted, stopping at a stall selling badges.

"Kim's, they need to be either Paul McGilligan or Carson Beckett before you'd think they're cute." Dara reminded her, pausing her walk as her friend bought a bag of badges.

o0o

"So where are they?" Carson asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Here, take this radio, station 2, and just buzz the guys in security, they'll tell you when ever you ask." Chris added. "If you want I can come with and help run interference?"

"No, its allright, I've got eh, David here." Carson grabbed Rodney by his neck and half hugged, half dragged him back through the private doors, waving to Chris.

Chris grinned and waved back, doing a double take as they left, then came back in wearing different clothes. 'What the?'

o0o

Teyla walked cautiously around the vast room, moving swiftly away from the crowds, especially the young men who appreciated her outfit.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for the familiar round face or young looking woman.

The radio on her vest crackled to life.

"Hey Teyla, any luck?" John asked, his voice crackled.

"Not yet John, I take it you are not fairing well either?" she replied, jumping past a very large man in a black and red suit with a spider on it, running towards a 'Comic Stall'.

"Nope." Her commanding officer replied. "Hey you've still got the ten bucks I gave you?"

"Yes." Teyla nodded.

"If you get hungry, buy something to eat from one of the stalls, a hot dog and some pop shouldn't be that expensive." He continued, muttering to himself as Ronon got distracted. "Sheppard out Teyla."

Teyla could hear him muttering about guns before the line went dead and stopped walking, looking around the room in wonder. 'What will be safe to eat?'

o0o

"I'm telling you, you were wearing your Atlantis season three outfits!" Chris exclaimed to Paul McGilligan and David Hewitt, who looked at him oddly.

"Noo, we're dressed in our street clothes, the same clothes we wear every year when we do this." David replied, looking at his acting buddy strangely. "Did they change the make up paint again?"

"I'm not allergic to the paint!" Chris snapped, frowning at them. "Well if it wasn't you two, them who the hell did I give the emergency radio to?"

"Why did they need the emergency radio?" Paul asked, looking up from a stack of papers he was reading.

"They were looking for the girl from last year-"

"What do they want with SerenBunny?" Paul looked freaked.

Chris and David shared a look. David shook his head. "Paul, do we even want to know?"

o0o

"You okay?" Dara asked Kimberley as she looked around wildly.

"Yeah, just got a weird sense of de ja vu, but not for me. Does that make sense?" Kimberley asked, moving her hands to her hair, then her clothes before looking at her friend in wonder.

"From anyone else, no; from you, mostly." Dara replied, throwing an arm around her friend. "C'mon, I heard Rachel is walking around her self!"

"Why couldn't it be Paul…" Kimberley muttered to herself, allowing her body to be dragged through the crowds. 'I somehow messed it up with Carson, I guess it would be too much to ask the universe to let me have one of them.'

o0o

"Oh excuse me, there she is!" Teyla heard someone say before a male hand was laid on her arm. "Rachel, please tell me you've got something to eat in that wrapper."

"I have purchased a hot pretzel." Teyla responded, looking at the John look a like before frowning. "And my name is not Rachel."

'John' frowned. "Damn, are we at a character convention? I thought that was Cincinnati?"

"I am not playing a character. Who are you?" Teyla demanded, wondering who this doppelgänger was.

"Its me, Joe - Joe Flanagan? Plays Major John Sheppard?" Joe Flanagan asked, looking at the Rachel look a like strangely.

"John is a Colonel - oh wait, you are his television actor. I see." Teyla looked at him closely, causing Joe to fidget. "Your resemblance is uncanny."

"Oh, thanks?"

o0o

"JOE! JOE!" Someone grabbed Johns arm and for a second he almost threw them from his body.

'Third time in the last five minutes!' He thought to himself and inwardly groaned looking at the female before replying. "Look miss, I'm not Joe Flannigan, I just look like- Teyla?"

John looked at 'Teyla' who was wearing a burgundy top and pair of light blue jeans. "When did you change?"

"Joe, we're not in Cincinnati, why are you dressed up like Major Sheppard?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrow like a certain Athosian.

"Major, but I'm a col- crap, did you see Ronon?" John demanded, looking around wildly for him.

"You mean Jason?" Rachel asked. 'I think the fan girls are getting to him.'

"Err, yeah - look, did you see where Chewwie went?"

o0o

"We need more chicken wings over here!" A young man spoke loudly to his radio as Ronon picked up the last dozen and placed them on his already full plate. "Pretty much everything else too."

o0o

"Ronon! There you are!" Jason turned around at his characters name being called and looked at David and Paul who ran up to him, David grabbing the plate of food from his hands and putting it on a table, snagging a chicken leg for himself.

"Hey!"

"Ronon, glad we found ye, do you know where John and Teyla are?" Paul asked, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"They should be near the stage." Jason replied, looking longingly at the food. "Are we supposed to meet them just now?"

"Aye." Paul replied and removed his hand, motioning for them to follow him.

With one last look Jason sighed at his food and followed his cast mates.

o0o

"TWO JOES!"

"Uh hu, and two Carson's!"

"No WAY!"

"Yes WAY!"

"Oh my God!"

"I'm going to commit murder." Dara muttered and glared as they passed a group of girls dressed as Mara.

"Do you think there are two?" Kimberley grabbed Daras arm in excitement.

"Loosing, circulation." Dara gritted out through her teeth, prying her hands from her forearms. "Don't even want to think about the headache of two John Sheppard's."

o0o

Len looked around at the various stalls, continuing in her forward motion. With a sigh she turned her face to the front, glaring at her baby sister who was dragging her through the convention hall quickly.

"Wouldn't be dragging you if you would un cuff me!" Catherine muttered darkly under her breath. "Seriously, people are starting to stare."

"Let them stare! I'm not letting you run off again and get lost in Base 1!" Len hissed, yanking her hand back, causing her sister to fly backwards to her. Bending down she looked at Catherine and smirked. "At least this way I can keep you out of trouble."

Len rolled her eyes and glared at her sisters vain attempts to pick the lock. "That hair clips too fine - hey that's mine!"

The two sisters rolled around the ground, bumping into con goers legs and causing a stir. Several men in security outfits closed in and grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks, separating them as far as the cuffs would let them.

"Are those real cuffs?" One of them, wearing a black shirt, black sunglasses and a white curly wire plugged into his ear, asked, raising an eye brow and cocking his head to the side.

"We're cos playing!" Len nearly yelled throwing her hands into the air, Catherine forced to follow. "See, she's an evil genius, and I'm the cop that arrested her!"

The other eyebrow joined its friend and the other security guards looked at her incredulously.

With a sigh Len pulled out her wallet. "Look, she's my baby sister."

"Ahh, okay, right." "Got cha." The group mumbled and the men left, one of them talking to Len about not making a scene again if they didn't want to get kicked out.

o0o

Teyla paused mid step as Johns actor latched onto her arm, trying to guide her towards a set of doors marked 'Private.' "Joh-Joe, I must meet up with Ronon."

"Jason should be at the buffet table." Joe replied, hand still on her arm. "C'mon, we need to go over the questions about the next series of Atlantis."

Teyla remained motionless, thinking of her options. Slowly she began to speak. "Yes, can you refresh my memory about the latest season?"

"The start of series four or the end of season three with Weir?" Joe asked, looking around at the tittering fans and groupies who were trying not to be too obvious in their watching and listening.

"Doctor Weir?" Teyla asked it like a question answer.

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't talk about this outside of the studio." He whispered, turning back to her and wincing as a set of fan girls began chanting 'Sparky' at him, another set chanting 'Sheyla'.

"Perhaps you could remind me over a cup of cava?" Teyla replied, raising an eyebrow and stepping closer to him.

"Don't you mean java-ohh right, in character. Got it." He winked at her, ignoring the exchange of cash from in front of him. 'I hope my wife doesn't hear about this!'

o0o

"So where are we supposed to be meeting Kimberley and Dara?" Catherine asked, flitting imaginary lint off of her costume, really just her welding uniform with a black cape.

"At the front stage, two shows before Stargate, that way Dara can make sure we're all in the same place before the Stargate crew goes on stage." Len replied, arm jerking back as her sister stalled in front of a button selling booth. "C'mon Catherine!"

"Len, we paid four hundred bucks apiece to be here, I'm getting my monies worth." The young genius relied, pulling her older sister over to the booth and smiling at the sellers wares.

Len rolled her eyes, using her left hand to swipe the brown hair from her head. Looking around she paused as the two actors for Carson and Rodney walked passed with a walkie talkie, heading straight towards the stage area. 'I've got a bad feeling about this.'

"Was that Carson and Rodney dragging Ronon, or David and Paul dragging Jason?" Len shook her little sister.

Catherine's head bounced up and down before she whacked her sisters arm and glanced in the direction she was pointing, doing a double take. "Uh, I think that was Carson and Big-Me dragging Jason."

"And how do you know that?" Len demanded.

"Subtle differences." Catherine replied, looking at her gloved hand disinterestedly. "Mainly because Carson and Rodney keep calling him Ronon and he calls then Paul and David."

"Oh." 'Smart ass.'

o0o

Chris walked along the rim of the convention hall, a walkie talkie placed to his ear, trying to keep out of the eye of the fans as he searched for his target. "So she's near the Tru Calling booths? Thanks Chuck!"

Slowly Chris walked around the tables, keeping his head down and body close together.

After several minutes of seemingly wandering aimlessly, he stops beside a young woman who was counting up a bunch of waded up notes. "Good sell?"

"Yeah, just unloaded the last of my eight by four prints to this Scottish girl." She replied, not looking up.

"Do you know which direction they went?" He asked.

"That away." She replied, pointing to the left, not looking up until he was gone. 'He sounded familiar.'

Chris walked towards the Flash Gordon section, eyes scanning the crowd for the two females who were being followed by the shadow medic. A sudden loud voice brought him from his thoughts and he watched the two girls he had been looking for.

"Dara, I'm buying it." Kimberley shook her head affirmative.

"I'm just saying you'll need to carry it, because I'm not holding onto a Key Blade shaped like a Penguin while you faint in front of Paul." Dara rolled her eyes. 'I know what's going to happen, same as last year when she met Paul, same as when she met Carson; I'll be left to hold everything while she faints.'

"Any chance I could buy it and pick it up later?" Kimberley asked the seller, who shook his head.

"Maybe I could put it behind the stage." Chris offered, waving a hand towards the shadow medic who nodded and went for a coffee.

"You can do that?" Kimberley asked, smiling at him.

"Hey, you look familiar." Dara squinted at him for a half a second before pointing at him. "You're Chris! Christopher Heyerdahl!"

"Shh!" He waved his hands at her. "Keep it down will you."

"Sorry." Dara replied, trying to look casual. "But hey, fantastic work on Atlantis."

"Ohh, a gate fan?" He asked, smile falling as they both looked at him in wonder. "Not fans?"

The girls exchanged a look of an inside joke before smiling at him. Dara spoke. "No we love Stargate, I'm mostly Atlantis."

"It's a tie for me." Kimberley added.

"But your did an excellent job as Marcus in Twilight!" Dara continued, elbowing Kimberley to get her autograph book out of her bag.

"Thanks." Chris smiled.

"And in Stargate and Sanctuary you were excellent!" Dara continued, then grinned. "And 'Are you afraid of the dark', man you were great!"

"I remember that show." Kimberley added, then looked at him. "Where you in Andromeda?"

"Yeah." Chris smiled, a little wigged that they could name a lot of the shows he had worked in.

"Most of your work is really good." Then Dara frowned. "I haven't seen you in Supernatural yet-"

"You were in supernatural?" Kimberley stared at him, thinking really hard. "Who did you play?"

"Alistair." Chris replied, still a little wigged out by Daras admission. 'Do I have another stalker?'

"Ohh, I thought he was familiar." Kimberley snapped her fingers and smiled at him. "How are ya?"

"I'm good. Your selves?" Chris asked, looking between the two females, stepping back from Dara who blinked at him silently. 'Not too much like a stalker, but can you really be to sure until they're trying to steal your underwear, again?'

"We're cool. Part from that stupid shadow medic." Kimberley muttered mostly to herself, scanning the crowd for them.

Chris smiled at her behaviour and motioned towards the key blade stall. "So, you getting one of these puppies?"

"Are you sure its okay to put it behind the stage?" She asked, slowly walking towards the boy selling the fake weapons, money already in her hand to be exchanged.

"Yeah, of course!" Chris responded, taking the merchandise and walking with her towards the stage, both forgetting about Dara who stood watching the actor walk pass.

After a few seconds she blinked and shook her head, looking around for her friend, subconsciously checking for drool.

o0o

A few stalls over John was trying to get away from Rachel without being too obvious.

'Does I think I have a Wraith in my house sound too nuts?' John thought, then dismissed it. "Look, Te-Rachel, I gotta use the little Johns room."

"Okay." Rachel nodded, smiling serenely at him. "Meet you at the stage in say ten minutes? We're on in half an hour."

"Uh, yeah, sure." John replied, already walking away towards the door marked 'Kirk'.

Once he was far enough away John turned around and ducked in the opposite direction, bumping into a still slightly dazed Dara who threw out her hands to steady herself.

"Watch where you're going you-Joe Flanagan!" Dara grinned, her hand shooting out to grab his, Kimberley's bag hitting him accidentally on his arm. "Hi, sorry, I was just, wow, nice to meet you."

'Dara? Wow that was easy-wait a minute, she thinks I'm John Sheppard! I mean his actor-I know what I mean why am I explaining it to myself?' John thought and shook his head, accepting her hand and shook it too. "Hey nice to meet you..?"

"Dara, Dara Baldwin." Dara slowly let go of his hand, noticing the heat that trailed from her fingers up her arm, and slowly began to look at his outfit. "I thought character clothes was Cincinnati?"

"Oh we changed it." John replied, then quickly placed an arm around her shoulder, causing Dara to jerk backwards slightly. "Hey wanna come to my trailer and talk?"

"You've got a wife and two kids." She dead panned. 'What the hell?'

"I don't have a wife and kids. Although with the right woman, hey you never know." John casually replied, but inside his head nearly shouted. 'I've got a what and WHAT?'

John watched Daras eyes widen, her face became stony and her arm swing back - before Kimberley's large Paul Boutique zebra bag, with what felt like bricks in it, came slamming down onto his arm repeatedly, causing him to jump backwards, trying to get out of the line of fire.

Dara pressed forward, continuing a mental tirade in her head as she hit Joe Flanagan with Kimberley's bag.

"Dara! DARA! DARA!" John shouted and ducked, grabbing the bag from her hands and nearly dropping it with the weight. 'Whoa this thing is heavy.'

As John fought with the urge to peak inside the bag the penny dropped with Dara.

"John FREAKING SHEPPARD!" She spoke then roared, flying forward to grab the bag and hit him with it once more.

Which pushed the bag to its edge, the seam bursting at the side, the contents spilling out, hitting John, Dara and the deck.

o0o

Carson and Rodney slowed their quick pace as the throngs of people increased.

Jason looked at his two acting buddies and winced at the strength of them. 'I'm no weakling, when did they get so strong?' "Guys, what's with the rush? We've got two sets before we need to be near the stage."

With no response Jason dug his heels into the ground causing the men to boing backwards, Paul hitting him full force, David slamming into two con goers.

The police woman exclaimed in soreness as Rodney clamoured off of her, ignoring the small mini Vader looking like person chained to her.

"Found 'em!" the mini Vader announced, lifting up her mask and smirked at the police woman who was still on the ground. "Pay up!"

"The agreement was they were them, not that you would find them first." the police woman snapped, jumping up and fixing her outfit. "Are you Carson and Rodney?"

"That's their characters." Jason answered quickly. 'Great, more crazy fan girls. How many seasons did I sign up for?'

Carson and Rodney looked at one another, wondering how to answer when the police woman removed her glasses, revealing brown eyes and a familiar face. "Len?"

"Yup." Len smiled at Carson, then shoved her sister behind her as Rodney gets this gleam in his eyes.

"Where are the other girls?" Carson spoke quickly, noting the girls looking at Rodney suspiciously.

"How did you get here?" Len asked, letting Catherine call for Kimberley and Dara via their comm. links.

"We came through the gate." Rodney rolled his eyes. "can we get a move on? I have important research to get back to."

"What's going on?" Jason asked, looking between the group confusedly.

"Ronon we-" "That ain't Ronon."

Rodney's eyes flew to Lens, his mouth already to dismiss her claim when Carson 'oh'd and nudged him, eyes pointing to Ronons neck.

Which was free from tattoos.

"Uh, well, we-" Rodney stuttered. 'Crap!'

"What girls? What's going on here guys?" Jason demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"They are, that is, um." Carson looked to the girls.

"We're some of the new writing staff." Len supplied, bringing out her ring binder from her back pack, showing him a bundle of story notes.

"She writes the boring stuff and I get the technical things down to a T." Catherine replied, pointing to the sections of the page (written in dark blue glittery ink) with diagrams, instructions and materials.

"We've been talking with the guys about a mini book series from within series one where they meet this bunch of girls from their own dimension due to an Asguard muck up, and have been getting their opinion on the different things, like how it would affect relationships later on." Len rambled, placing the stuff back in and looking at the two alternate reality men.

"Do you want to wait for us on the stage? We'll only be a minute." Carson added, nodding and smiling friendly to the only actor of the group (that gets paid.)

Jason nodded, not completely believing their made up lies, but walked away none the less. 'Maybe I should have joined the Charley Jade crew.'

They quartet watched him leave, smiling widely at him.

Rodney turned to Catherine. "So, where are the others?"

"Others us or others you guys or others your actors?" Catherine offered.

"Dara and Kimberley, then John, Ronon and Teyla." Carson replied.

Len and Catherine looked at each other before turning on the boys. "YOU LOST YOUR TEAM MATES?"

o0o

Nearby, Teyla's patience was beginning to wear thin.

For the past ten minutes Joe Flannigan had talked incessantly about filming schedules, cramped trailer spaces and script re writes.

"I mean, do you think there will be a writers strike?" Joe continued, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Joe, while I do find this conversation very stimulating, would you please excuse me?" Teyla asked, smiling a strained smile at him.

"Oh, OH! Sure, bathrooms are thatta way." Joe motioned towards the stage. "They're much cleaner than the main ones."

"Thank you Joe." Teyla inclined her head and began to walk away.

"Hey so." Joe began, walking faster to catch up with her. "How are you getting to Cincinnati."

Teyla held in a groan of displeasure, closing her eyes to hide the annoyance. Casually she stopped walking and turned to Joe. "Joe, I have not had a minutes peace since I first stepped inside the convention hall, please allow me _quiet_ passage to the facilities and we shall talk more afterwards."

Joe threw his hands up in the air." Sure, sure, sorry Rachel. Its just, the fans, they get me so excited. I feel like a fan visiting a convention when we do these, and forget sometimes that I'm here to give the chats to the fans, like the ones I loved listening to back in the day."

Teyla smiled once more and nodded again, walking quickly towards the rest rooms, walking faster as Joe opened his mouth.

Joe closed it with a frown. 'She'll figure out that's the guys ones before she goes into far, right?'

Teyla stepped closer to the bathroom and paused, noting the amount of men walking in and out. Sneakily she looked around to see if Joe was watching her, and spotting that he was not, she quickly ran towards the area marked stage, getting herself lost in the crowd surrounding it.

Glancing around the condensed space Teyla noted that she could not see clearly either Ronon, John or Rodney and Carson. Thinking quickly she walked towards the stage, and once several members of staff left a clear enough space she pivoted and vaulted onto the space, walking quickly to hide on the shadows of the wings, pausing as some one called her TV actors name.

"Rachel! There you are!" A tall woman with sleek bright red hair, dressed in a revealing gold dress stated, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're due on set in ten minutes, Peter wants you to run through the pre-approved questions again."

"Peter?" Teyla asked, looking confused, but not completely.

"Delouse. Director?" The woman replied, then smiled. "Ahh, I get cha. But come on, you need to get through make up again, your black eye is showing."

Teyla touched her eye and mentally frowned. 'How observant are these people? Will they eventually realise that we are not their versions of us?'

"Come on Rachel!" The woman ordered, already walking away.

Teyla made a split second decision and followed the female deeper onto the stage.

o0o

Jason walked towards the stage, nodding his head to Chris as he placed a large bag behind the stage mark for their show. "Hey, what's in the bag?"

"Something SerenBunny bought." Chris replied. "Hey you seen Paul and David?"

"Err, yeah." Jason frowned.

"What's up?"

"They were dragging me here, like I was late again or something, and all of a sudden they stopped because these two con goers, well they say they were writers, but one was like a pre-teen!" Jason exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "The other could pass I guess, but they started talking about a mini book series and stuff. They're just pasted the Eureka stalls."

"Strange. Hey I'm gonna go grab them, wait here I'll be right back." Chris commented, turning to go the way Jason had came.

Jason watched him go and looked around innocently, before peeking into the bag he had placed down. 'What would SerenBunny want Chris to hide behind stage?'

Peeking into the bag he frowned at the silver inside, before looking further in and seeing something purple. 'I know I shouldn't, but.'

Jason put his hand in the bag and grabbed the hilt of the thing, withdrawing 'some sort of sword? With a Penguin key chain? Okay, I knew the girl was weird but, strange.'

After he put the item back into the bag he looked around the back of the stage, noting the security crew keeping the (small in number) crazy fans from getting into the backstage area.

Walking nearer the buffet cart Jason picked up a plate and began placing some stuff on it, glancing around.

He noted Rachel and Joe chatting to the right of the stage. Moving up the line he spotted Chris talking with Paul and David, and the two girls.

Looking to the left of the stage Jason blinks at the sight of Rachel, Joe, Paul and David making their way towards the stage, calm looks on all their faces apart from Paul's.

'Must know that girl is here.' Jason chuckled to himself, then snapped his head to the right, looking at his fellow actors, then to the left to look at them again.

Slowly he looks at the mile high plate of food he had gathered and set it down on the table, backing away gently. 'I think I'm going to go lie down.'

o0o

"Did you hear someone is whaling on Joe Flannigan?" Loud whispers flew around the loud room, causing Kimberley to pause on her way back from the bathroom.

'No way.' She thought, shaking her head. 'Dara wouldn't-hold on, I'VE met Dara, Dara would!'

Unsure if she would do any good rushing or just get kicked out with her friend Kimberley paused at the end of a large crowd before taking a deep breath.

"Scuse me, coming through, pregnant lady, hot food, woman on a mission here, Star Wars episode three and a half script coming through, move it or loose it buster, shift!" Kimberley pushed, prodded and poked her way towards the middle of the crowd, eyes going wide at the sight of Dara glaring at Joe Flanagan as they bent down to pick up things from the floor. 'Is that Joe Flannigan? How does he know her name? What's that stuff on the floor?' "Dara, why were you hitting the nice actor man who has the power to kick us out. What's that stuff on the floor?"

"I do?" Joe asked, looking at Dara, who had not stopped glaring at him.

"No he doesn't!" Dara glared at him a few more times, raising the ripped bag up a little. "The stuff on the floors your stuff."

"What did you do to my bag!"

"Hit Sheppard with it!"

"And just what did it do to deserve to be hit with that hard a head?"

"Hey I can hear you!" John tried to interrupt, looking between the girls.

Kimberley and Dara turned to look at him. "Stay out of this!"

'I'm staying out I'm staying out.' He thought, head shooting down to look at the items still scattered on the floor and grabbed the bag from Daras hands, stuffing them inside without looking at them. 'How much stuff was in this bag?'

Kimberley turns to Dara, continuing their electric debate as John hurried to refill the bag. With the last item in his hand he smiled at the end in sight when Carson's rough voice broke through his self congratulations.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Carson asked as he and Rodney, with a mini-Vader and a police officer, stopped beside their little group, the loveable Scot motioning his head to his hands.

John frowned and looked at it, frowning as he realised what it was. "Its not mine! Its Kimberley's!"

Said girl paused in her arguing to sigh and grab the item - a female hygiene product - throwing it into the bag. "Its just a tampon guys, not like its anything deadly."

"But they are guys Kimberley." Dara smiled, then frowned. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"You mean they're our version?" Kimberley blinked rapidly in shock, face beginning to turn red.

"What other version is there?" Dara raised an eyebrow, all previous arguments dropped as Kimberley realised what she had done. "Kim's? Crap."

"Kimberley, I need you to breathe hen." Carson ordered, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't think that will help." Rodney replied, stepping forward to try and slap some breath into the female when he noted something. "Why are you wearing a poofy dress to a Science Fiction Convention?"

"I'm Cara from Ledged of the Seeker, episode 'Princess'." Kimberley glared at him, face beginning to return to normal, running a hand over her pink renaissance styled and cut dress as Carson noted the tiara, up do and sparkly jewellery. "And its my Princess Peach dress, and my prom dress!"

"And what are you supposed to be?" Rodney demanded, whirring on Dara.

"Well, I was going to go as Doctor Liz Shaw, Doctor Who circa 1970s, when the store manager refused to loan me a coat from the meat department." She explained and mess around with her hair, showing an ear wig. "My bro got me this jacket for blowing up my Xbox, my dad threw in his old Top Gun styled sunglasses and I stole a pair of my moms old dark jeans. Add 'em together and whatta get?"

"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" Kimberley sang.

Everyone looked at Dara strangely before turning to Kimberley.

"What?" Kimberley demanded.

"You don't know what she went as?" John asked her incredulously. 'They've been hanging about with each other all day!'

"Oh right, that what we're talking about? She's a good bad guy." Kimberley explained, then sighed. "She's a rouge NID agent."

"Yeah, one that likes to beet up poor unsuspecting guys." John grumbled, crossing his arms.

"You were hitting on me!" Dara exclaimed.

"You HIT me!"

"I'll do it again if you don't watch it!"

Kimberley rolled her eyes at the twos faintly veiled flirting. "So what are you guys doing here for anyway?"

"Those two-" John took time out of his glaring match to point out Rodney, pausing as he couldn't see Ronon. "Huh?"

"'Those two' what Sheppard, come on we don't have all day!" Moaned Dara.

"Has anyone seen Ronon? Or Teyla?" John asked, looking around for the two aliens. "Anyone?"

Kimberley, Dara, Len and Catherine looked at each other. Catherine shook her head. "Fleshies."

"We'll worry about that later, what did, and I'm assuming Rodney and Ronon are those two who did something, what did they do?" Len asked, looking around for the Satedan hunk or Athosian beauty.

"They wrecked my jumper!" John seethed.

Dara blinked. "All this over a jumper?"

" 'All this over a-' why are you not enraged! If they did it to yours-" John broke off to stare at Dara.

"I've got plenty." She shrugged.

"PLENTY!" He shouted. "We thought you only had one!"

"Guys." Kimberley began.

"I have more than one of the same colour." Dara shot back.

"Guys." She tried again.

"Why don't you share with us?" John demanded.

"Cause Teyla has bigger boobs than me." The oldest female replied. "Hey eyes up here!"

"WHAT!" John screamed. "You're not sharing because you're jealous?"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT!" John and Dara shouted, turning to look at Kimberley who pointed to a big screen above them, showing their argument to the entire convention.

"And I think he's talking about the puddle jumpers." She added.

"Right you are hen." Carson nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Ehehehehe." Kimberley giggled at his eclectic touch. 'Huh?' "Wait a second - how did you manage to wreck his jumper? I drive Daras around like a blind Donkey on a suicide mission and its never that bad."

"Well you see John was teaching Ronon how to fly and I simply reminded him that he hadn't taught me yet." Rodney calmly explained. "And he promised."

"That's because you freak out when you see a planet in front of you1" John snapped. "And Ronon needs to learn what buttons to push in order to save our assess the next time you get us into trouble!"

"Me? On ho, I'm not the one always Kirking around!" Rodney defended.

"Will you stop with the Kirk comments?" John snapped at him. "If you want to go down that route, fine: MRE hogger."

"Pretty boy."

"Science nerd."

"Brainless slob."

"I was accepted into MENSA you know."

"Xbox destroyer."

"You broke an Xbox?" Kimberley gasped, stepping closer to Dara. "You're worse than Damien himself."

"You broke an Xbox?" Dara echoed, grabbing Kimberley's bad and hitting the devil with it once more, causing everything to go flying out.

"Dara!" The girls gasped. 'He may be evil but he doesn't deserve that!'

"Allright missy, you've caused enough trouble." One of the security men from before with Catherine and Len stated as he picked Dara up off the ground, backing away with her. "You three as well, move it."

"But-we-I-NO!" Catherine pitched a fit as another security man picked her up. "Put me down!"

"You two too, come on." The guard reminded Len and Kimberley, the former following like it was a regular occurrence for her sister to be carried out by security personnel.

"Can I pick up my stuff first?" Kimberley asked, motioning to the spilled items.

"Sure." The security man agreed. "Then your outta here!"

Kimberley nodded enthusiastically and motioned to her ear. Len nodded in understanding and touched hers, turning on her nicked earpiece.

"We'll keep an eye on her." Carson told the security men and they nodded ,escorting the three females out, leaving Kimberley with Carson, John and Rodney.

Quickly Kimberley bent down and began shoving the things from the floor into her bag, taking her time as to not put any rubbish in it.

Carson bends down to help her, smiling assumingly. "Sorry about all the trouble hen."

"It-its okay Carson." Kimberley stutters and blushes, looking up at him and back down quickly, a soft smile gracing her lips.

"So, how has your day been beside this?" John tries to join the conversation, missing Rodney's look of exasperation.

"Allright, we met Christopher Heyerdahl - crap he took my Penguin Key blade backstage!" Kimberley almost wailed. "How am I supposed to get it back if I'm kicked out?"

"We'll got get it." John offered, grabbing Rodney and quickly walking away.

"Thanks guys!" Kimberley shouted at their backs, grinning at their helpfulness. "So hows Atlantis been?"

"Good, its been good-" Carson repeats and frowns at the item in his hand. "Does this belong to you?"

Kimberley stood up and looked at him, then his hands, face flushing at the item in his hands. "Kinda."

"How can you 'kinda' own a used pregnancy test?" The medic asked. "I didn't think you had a boyfriend."

"I don't!" Kimberley defended, then placed her hands on her hips, annoyance coming through. "What's it to you?"

"W-well an unmarried woman such as yourself shouldny be getting up ae anyfing like that!" Carson began. "And you'll be throwing your future carer away! Do you even know who the father is?"

"No clue." Kimberley shrugged, then got angry again. "And isn't it up to me? I repeat, what's it got to do with you?"

"You dinnae know who the father is!" Carson almost yelled.

"Whose pregnant?" John asked as he came back with the key blade, stopping as he noted the icy looks Kimberley was giving Carson. "Whoa."

"What?" Rodney asked, stopping beside his team mate.

"Kimberley's pregnant." John stage whispered.

"I'm no pregnant!" Kimberley almost shouted, stomping her foot in anger. "You would need either a boyfriend or one night stand, something that I just don't have time for, or a clinic."

"So whose is the test?" John asked, pointing to the test in Carson's hand.

"Lens." Kimberley shrugged. "She took it about three hours ago."

"Then why do you still have it?" Carson asked, confusion written on his face.

"Because it takes three hours to complete." Kimberley spoke with a 'duh' in her voice.

"It only takes three minutes." Rodney explained, glaring at their quick looks. "What!"

"And I was waiting till we found out if she was pregnant before we got rid of it." Kimberley sighed. "That and we needed to get rid of it somewhere that Catherine wouldn't find it."

"Okay missy, you've had long enough." The security guard from earlier appeared like Scot's mist at their elbows, gently prodding Kimberley towards the exit. "And you guys are due on stage in ten minutes."

"But we're not-" "Going to be late, are we David?" John cut off Rodney, giving him the cocked head look and his friends followed him towards the stage.

o0o

Catherine fumed beside a bench as Len fumbled around the contents of her pockets, trying to find the keys to the hand cuffs.

Dara passed as she waited for Kimberley to come through the doors of the convention hall. "What is taking her so long?"

"Maybe she fainted again?" Catherine offered as he watched Dara chew her lip. "What's the worse that could happen?"

"She could tell them how their lives turn out." Len threw in, hands moving to her hair to bring out a bobby pin. "Two secs sis and well be free!"

"About bloody time." The youngest muttered under her breath.

"Kimberley!" Dara suddenly shouted, moving towards the centres doors, ignoring the security mens glares. "What took you so long?"

"Carson spotted the test." The normally bubble girl growled out. "Stupid prick, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. You know he thought I was pregnant? And that I was throwing my life away and stupid for not knowing the guy who got me pregnant!"

"Who spit in her bean curd?" Catherine asked, grabbing the pin from Len and unhooking them from the cuffs in a second.

"Carson thought she was pregnant and because he wasn't the daddy he got mad and he thought she was throwing her career away." Len translated.

Dara frowned. "Did you give him ambiguous answers?"

"Well I didn't want to come out and say whose test it was!" Kimberley raged.

"So you confused him." Dara shook her head. "Kim's, let it go, it was just an understanding."

"But-" "Kimberley, leave it."

Kimberley huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine, but you owe me a new bag!"

o0o

On stage at the right hand side Rachel, Paul, Chris, David and Jason stood waiting on Joe, passing the time by talking with each other.

"Has anyone seen Cynthia?" Rachel asked, looking for the red head who normally made sure everything was running smoothly.

"Haven't seen her." David replied, glancing around for Joe. "Think Joe will be on time?"

"Better not be a repeat of LA." Chris muttered darkly, thinking of the last time when they were held up by an hour before Joe got through the mid day LA traffic.

"There isn't much traffic in Atlanta." Jason shrugged is shoulders, looking across the stage, head doubling back to stare at something. 'That is so weird.'

o0o

On stage at the left hand side Ronon stared at his double, pretty much everyone's doubles, and blinked rapidly. 'This is so freaking weird.'

"Ronon!" Johns voice called out and Ronon turned around, nodding to his commanding officer and fellow team mate, nodding again to Rodney. "You guys seen Teyla?"

"John?" A voice from behind them asked.

"Teyla!" John replied after turning round and smiling at the only female of the group. "Where have you been?"

"Hair and Make up." Teyla answered swiftly, moving to touch her hair but stopping an inch from it, imaginary hands beating it down.

"Okay guys, you're on! Good luck Rachel, David no more plugs okay." A runner explained to them, motioning for them to get on the stage. "Jason, take your time answering questions. Paul, no more snogging sessions!"

"But we're not-" John began.

"Everything you need is on stage, now go on, get!" the runner made a shooing motion with his hands.

o0o

"Who the hell are they?" David demanded, looking on the stage to see people who looked a hell of a lot like them cross the stage and sit down on their seats. "And why are they wearing next seasons outfits?"

"They look an awful lot like us." Rachel commented.

"You don't think-" "Naa, they could never replace us, could they?"

Rachel and David looked at each other, then the group, before heading in the direction of the security area, intent in meeting with the event coordinator.

o0o

John, Teyla, Ronon, Rodney and Carson looked at the packed audience.

The packed audience looked at them.

"Uh, hi guys." John paused as cheering swept through the area.

After waiting for a few minutes the noise quietened.

"I guess we'll take some questions?" John asked, then pointed in a random direction.

"David, what kind of underwear did you send Jason, Boxers, Briefs or Speedos?" A fan with an orange hoodie asked.

"Uh, you see, it was, um." Rodney looked at the others for help.

"We all took part in the underwear sending." Teyla replied, smiling gently at Ronon and Rodney who looked freaked out as hell.

"If it was just Rod-er, David sending me the underwear, I would have taken my gun and shot him." Ronon replied, bending over the table to glare at the physicist, showing off his muscle arms.

"MARRY ME JASON!" A familiar voice screamed.

Carson, Rodney and John snapped their attention to Ronon as he searched for the voice, eyes opening slightly wider at the sight of the Wraith from before.

John slapped a hand to his head as Ronon began to growl fiercely. 'Please don't whip out the gun and kill anyone, please don't kill anyone!'

o0o

"I'm going to kill one of them!" Dara groaned to Kimberley as Len chased Catherine around the lot. "I know they're sisters, but I don't act like that with mine."

"Really?" Kimberley asked, trying to raise her eyebrow, but raised both. "I act like that with my sister."

"Why did they have to come here? I wanted a weekend free from them, free from all things science fiction." Dara sighed and slunk lower on the bench. "Do we have to wait here for the team?"

"So you came to a Sci Fi Con?" Kimberley added off handily."Not like we can go to a secluded place and leave a note for them to find us."

Slowly Dara turns to look at her Scottish friend. "You've bought the tickets!"

"True." Kimberley bopped her head, then grinned.

Dara groaned. "I've gave you an idea, haven't I?"

o0o

An hour later the team from Atlantis push their way through the crowds and sighed in exasperation.

"Lets not do that again." John decided, hands on his knees, bent over and trying to get his breath back.

"Agreed." Teyla added, head her turning around to keep an eye out for the legions of fans. "Where will the girls have gone?"

Stomach filling with dread John whirled around to look at the areas that the puddle jumpers sat. "Well, their jumpers still here."

"What's that?" Ronon asked, pointing to a piece of paper stuck to the screen of the jumper.

"Someone's advertising something." John replied offhandedly as they started to make their way towards the two jumpers.

"Which one is the girls?" Carson asked, looking between the two.

"The the one that isn't dented up one ala McStupid and Dex." John shot, glaring at the duo.

"Look it isn't our fault!" Rodney snapped, throwing his arms up in frustration. "You heard what Kimberley said- you've seen her drive! It wasn't our faults!"

"Yeah, yeah, heard it all - is that a smiley face?" John demanded, pulling the piece of paper free and staring at the stickers that held it into place. "My JUMPER!"

'I'm beginning to think John has Jumper issues.' Carson thought as he quickly saved the piece of paper from his wrath. " 'hi guys, we're away to Lens parents vacation house, just on the outskirts of town.'"

Teyla looked at the shade of red Johns face was taking. "I would suggest that we get their quickly before the girls move once more?"

John grumbled to himself before going to the back of the jumper, slamming his hand on the button. 'Why isn't the ramp coming down?' "Why isn't the ramp coming down?"

Rodney frowned and stepped closer to the jumper, bringing his backpack to the ground and withdrawing his laptop and some technical items.

"Do you carry that everywhere?" John asked.

"Yes, and aren't you glad I did so we're not- weird, I'm not getting any energy signals." Rodney frown deepened.

"Did the battery run out?" Carson suggested.

" 'Did the-' no the battery did not run out!" Rodney nearly shouted at him. "They are self sustaining power crystals!"

"Maybe we're at the wrong jumper?" Ronon added.

Rodney physically bristled. " 'Wrong jumper-' how many alien puddle jumpers do you see!"

"Several, actually." Carson said, looking around the puddle jumper.

"What?" Rodney demanded, sticking his head to the side, jaw falling out at the sight of four other puddle jumpers, each one bashed like their original one. "How the hell do we find ours?"


	13. Kimberley Goes Home

Heavy metal music came from inside the girls puddle jumper as Kimberley messed around with one of the chairs, looking up in excitement as a speck in the distance became a dot. "DARA!"

"WHAT?" Came from the house.

"Either we're being invaded, or the guys are coming." she shouted back. "What's worse?"

"Depends whose invading." Len added, handing Kimberley a glass of orange juice. "Is it the guys?"

"We're being hailed, so I think so." Catherine answered, pointing to the screen, pressing a button and making Rodney and the gang appear. "Hikia bika boo?"

"Boo sha!" Kimberley and Teyla announced.

Dara rolls her eyes as she hears the girls giggle.

"Hey you remembered!" Catherine giggled.

Teyla inclined her head.

A few minutes later the puddle jumper descended back onto Terra Firma, the guys spilling from the back of it.

John spotted Dara exiting the house and ducked behind Teyla. "Teyla, make the scary monster go away!"

"Hi Teyla." Dara rolled her eyes.

"Hello Dara." Teyla replied, stepping aside for Dara to see John.

"Keep rolling them and they're gonna fall out." John pointed out.

Dara rolled them again, just to annoy him, and because of his cliché. "What do you want Sheppard?"

"What no hello, how's it going?" John asked.

"Whoa, de ja vu." Kimberley exclaimed, throwing her hands out to balance herself.

"You okay hen?" Carson asked.

"Y-yeah I'm fine." She replied.

"Anyway, back to why we're here." John turned towards Catherine. "Fix my jumper."

Catherine raised an eye brow at his rudeness.

"Please?" Teyla added for the man, internally rolling her eyes.

'Huh, must be a universal thing.' Ronon thought, watching all of the girls roll their eyes as John started to faff about asking politely.

"What I want to know is why you guys couldn't just wait for us back home?" Dara asked, hand on her hips.

"They broke my jumper." John replied again.

"Sure it isn't something else?" Kimberley asked, shying back as both Dara and John turned to glare at her. She put her hands up in the air. "I'm just saying. You guys seem not to like coming here, and a couple of hours after we leave you manage to find a reason to come over?"

"What's with her?" Rodney asked Len, who sighed.

"Dara called her parents the other day." She replied.

"And?" Rodney didn't get what the big deal was.

"The same parents she's been fighting with since before she left for Atlantis?" Len elaborated.

"Ahh." Rodney replied. "So...will you fix it?"

"Sure, I'll fix it." Catherine smiled.

"Great! Knew you would. And could you make some slight alterations to the jumper?" Rodney butted in to ask, brining out an inch thick bundle of paper.

"I'm not about to pimp out your Puddle Jumper!" Catherine denied. "Not for free anyway."

"Name your price." Rodney demanded, knowing what ever she asked would be simple.

"Give me some Tok'ra tunnel crystals."

ish.

"What?" He stated, looking at the mere child.

"Okay, just one, I'll make more." Catherine bargained. "I'll even throw in a bunch of my work I've been tinkering away with."

"What kind of work?" Rodney asked as they began wandering towards the jumper.

"And well see those guys in 2012." Kimberley giggled.

"So what are we going to do while we wait on the jumper?" John asked the Ronon and Carson.

"Relax." Ronon shrugged his shoulders. "This earth is the only one that hasn't been spotted by Wraith."

"I'd actually like to take Carson to my Scotland. To let him visit some old haunts without freaking too many people out." Kimberley offered.

"What about Entropic Cascade Failure?" Dara asked.

"He didn't come through the mirror, and he's been here for so long I think if the effects were going to happen then they would have happened by now." Kimberley explained.

"I would love to." Carson smiled, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"If it is alright with your Kimberley and Doctor Beckett, I would like to accompany them." Teyla asked, smiling as the duo nodded their consent.

"And we'll go relax in front of the TV." John slapped his hands together, and then frowned. "You do have a TV, don't cha?"

Len rolled her eyes and nodded, walking towards the large old house as Kimberley, Carson and Teyla made their way towards the puddle jumper.

Dara turns to John and he motions for the doorway.

"Baldwin, can I have a word?" John asks, not too sure how to finish his question.

"Sure. How about two." The sanest of all females from this reality replied, crossing her arms and leaning on the door frame, noting that they were out of ear shot to everyone, then rolled her eyes as he went to copy her movement, winced then glared her way. "You aren't still upset about the bag thing are you?"

"Me? No." John shook his head. "But my arms on the other hand, still screaming a big fat 'ow.'"

John shuffled his feet, moving his weight from one leg to the other and began cracking his fingers, working from one hand to the next, and then moving along to his neck.

"You going to say something or pop all those air bubbles?" Dara demanded, visibly bored.

"I was just wondering if you might have changed your mind." John began.

"About?" Dara asked.

"Taking Boyce back with you to Atlantis." He breathed out quickly.

"We've talked about this Sheppard." Dara sighed.

"No, you've talked about it. I still think it's a bad idea!" John threw his hands in the air, ignoring the pain in his arms. "She's going to get hurt out there - probably killed! Do you want that on your head?"

"She won't get killed." Dara shook her head.

"What if you get killed?" John stepped closer to her. "Do you think she could have that on her conscious? Do you think I'm going to let that hang on _my_ conscious?"

"And how will I get killed?" Dara gestured to him. "We're going to be staying on Atlantis, giving report about everything we know, making sure you guys get the right information at the right time. There is no need for us to go off world, meet any one not from our reality excluding a select few."

Something dawned on her.

"Why is Carson here?"

John looked a bit perplexed. "Huh?"

"Carson, Beckett, Scottish doctor, yay tall, he and Kimberley have this freakily annoying crush thing going on-why is he here? Why is Kimberley not freaking out?" Dara explained further.

"Basically the IOA wanted to see if a cloned person would react the same way with the entropic cascade failure than others from the same universe." John replied.

"Didn't you explain to them that because you don't come through the mirror that we're ninety five percent sure it won't affect anyone anytime?" Dara asked, and then frowned. "Why do they want to know that?"

"As a back up, in case our world gets over run with Wraith or the next bad guy that comes out of the wood works." John shrugged.

"What, and we're just supposed to sit back and let refugees from another freaking reality come a live here?" Dara asked.

"Case in point; you and Kimberley." John smirked.

'Damn.' Dara thought and nodded to him. "Touché."

"But you've got the option to go home." John replied. "Look the chances of it happening are-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll super glue you and Kimberley together." Dara cut him off with a glare. "All I wanted was a peaceful quiet weekend away from the insanity of Atlantis and her people, is that too much to ask?"

"We could do something quiet." He spoke quietly as he moved closer to her.

She turned to look at him.

He moved back to his original spot quickly. "Scrabble?"

o0o

Len watched Kimberley and Carson walk towards the girls puddle jumper, then turned to watch Ronon watching Rodney and Catherine disappear into the garage, chatting loudly about how to make food replicators.

The front door banged shut, causing the only two left to swing their heads towards it, then look at each other.

"Want to watch some TV?" Len shrugged, motioning towards the modest thirty-six inch screen.

"Sure." Ronon replied, walking into the living room.

Ronon watched as Len sat on the couch, sprawled out. Glancing around he spotted the only other available seat (without sitting on the floor) was a beanie chair. Raising his eyebrows, he walked in front of it and crossed his legs, slinking lower, and lower, and lower, before hit butt hit the chair and he flopped onto the chair, moving his legs to stretch out in front of him.

o0o

Carson smiled to Catherine as she pointed out to Teyla how to use the puddle jumper; glad that once one of the girls got it going he could take over. He wasn't the most experienced when it came to puddle jumpers and driving them, but he would rather drive than one of the females.

"Does it have the same Earth Nav?" Kimberley asked Catherine, who nodded. "Coolie, text you guys when we're coming back."

"Just remember to cloak it when you get back in the atmosphere. Mom'll flip if I end up with another F-302 fly by." Catherine replied.

"Yes sir!" Kimberley grinned at her.

"Can we get to my alterations please?" Rodney demanded, ready to grab Catherine and drag her to the jumper.

"Keep your boxers on gramps." Catherine rolled her eyes at him.

"GRAMPS?"

o0o

"So how long will the jumper take to get us to Scotland?" Carson asked Kimberley, who shrugged.

"You're the one driving." She replied. "Usually it takes about fifteen minutes, but we need to enter the atmosphere then come back down."

Teyla inclined her head. "Why?"

Kimberley blushed. "Every time I come through this way I always manage to bump into an F-302 or three."

Carson nodded but said nothing, moving to cloak the ship, flying high as he looked at the HUD and kept an eye out for any flying objects.

"Where boots in Scotland dae ye want tae go?" Carson asked Kimberley.

"Hmm..." She looked at the HUD, moving closer to the consol to mess about with the controls, zooming in on the island of the United Kingdom. "I guess we kid head tae Edinburger."

"Ah thought you were fae Glesga?" Carson frowned, turning to look at her.

"Aye, ah mur." She nodded.

"I have one request." Teyla placed a hand on both their shoulders.

"Yeah?" They both turned to look at her.

"Please do not speak in the tongue of your people; it confuses me more so than one of Rodney's rants." Teyla smiled apologetically.

"Sorry!" Kimberley replied, and Carson smiled in apologies. "Why not head to Glasgow, we can check out the shops, then pop by Paisley, then head back?"

"Sounds like a plan bat man." Carson joked with her, and they shared a smile.

Behind them Teyla rolled her eyes.

o0o

A short time later, they arrived at an abandoned field. Teyla exited the jumper first, then Carson. They turned to look at Kimberley as she held back. She stopped biting her fingers to look at them. "Sorry, trying to remember where my purse is."

Quickly she grabbed her bag from beside the chair and stood up, looking at them oddly. "Erm, do you want to stand out side while I change?"

"Why, you suit your dress." Teyla was puzzled.

"If I go jumping about with a dress on in Braehead, people will know I'm nuts." She explained.

"Ah." They nodded their heads and left the jumper together, standing out side for a few minutes before Kimberley reopened the back hatch, wearing her usual black trousers, a long sleeved black top and her seen better days black jacket.

Her hands moved to take the pins out of her hair that kept the curls in place. Carson stepped closer to take the bobble from her hand as she tried to gather it all up. "Leave it doon hen, you suit it."

She blushed and nodded eyes downcast. "Let's hit the shops, eh?"

"Since when are you Canadian?" Carson grinned.

Teyla watched them flirt and fought the urge to roll her eyes at the pair of humans.

o0o

Teyla followed Carson and Kimberley as they entered the large shopping mall. To the left there was a small booth selling chocolates, although it was in a liquid form. To her right there was a bookstore, but it was the store straight ahead that caught her attention the most.

"Monsoon it is then." Kimberley smiled to Carson as Teyla began unconsciously walking towards the clothes store.

Quickly the trio made their way inside. Teyla had picked up a dress from the rack and was a few seconds from holding it to her body before she realized she didn't have any little green bits of paper. With a sigh, she placed the dress back on the rack and turned to leave, bumping into Kimberley. "Oh, I am sorry!"

"You will be." Kimberley replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Excuse me?" the Athosian blinked.

"I saw the way you were looking at that dress." Kimberley answered, uncrossing her arms to grab the garment and thrust it to Teyla, pointing towards a changing room. "Go try it on."

"I do not want to waste anyone's time by trying on things that I can not purchase." Teyla tried to put it back.

"Teyla, how long have we known each other for?" Kimberley changed the subject.

"I believe it is almost three years." Teyla responded.

"And did I get you anything for your birth day? Or Christmas? Or Friends Day?" She asked. "Did I get Torren anything for his birth? No, well I'm making up for it."

"That is too much." Teyla began.

"Teyla, just accept it." Kimberley shook her head, grinning insanely. "You are my friend, and you put up with me, so you get gifts."

Teyla moved to open her mouth and Kimberley raised her hand. "You can repay me by kicking Carson and Daras butts in training."

Teyla thought this over then bowed her head. "Thank you."

o0o

The Athosian female tried on the dress and came out of the changing room. "It is most impractical."

The Earth female turned her head from looking at little girl shoes to Teyla, and her jaw dropped. "Teyla, maxi dresses were _made_ for you!"

Teyla blinked, a little confused to her wording, but kept her mouth shut on that topic. "Are you sure you wish to buy me this?"

"This and a whole lot more!" She nodded, and then spotted her reluctance to accept her gift. "When we get back to Atlantis you can get me stuff off world, okay?"

"There are some words you shouldn't say." Carson placed his hands on her shoulders as he appeared behind them. "Wow Teyla, you look stunning in that dress!"

Kimberley felt the electricity spark from his hands to her shoulder blades, coursing through her body. Her body jerked away from his hands. "So see anything else you like from this shop?"

Teyla shook her head. "Some things a pretty, but if I have grasped your barter system correctly they are not worth the value for the items."

"So just the dress?" The sales assistant from behind Teyla asked.

Kimberleys face flushed.

The sales girl rang up their purchase then the trio left the store, taking the escalator up stairs before Carson slowed down at the RC store. "When was this put here?"

"G4?" Kimberley double backed. "Uh, about two years ago. There's another one in town that's bigger."

"Is there ain't chance?" He motioned to the shop.

Kimberley rolled her eyes but grinned and nodded all the same.

"Thanks hen." Carson put a hand on her shoulder then turned to go into the store.

Kimberley placed a hand where Carson had his and sighed silently. She turned around and caught Teyla staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing." Teyla shook her head, following the younger girl into the toy store.

They watched as Carson 'ohh'ed' and 'ahh'ed' over various bits of machinery before he stopped in front of a solar powered operated helicopter.

Kimberley snatched one from beside him and walked over to the counter, purchasing it before he had a chance to think about what she had done.

"Kimburley." Carson warned. "You dinnae hive tae-"

"Car, can it." she smiled sweetly; accepting the bag, then turned to him and handed it to the big kid. "You done in here? We got kicked out of the convention before I could get something to eat."

"Sure." Carson nodded and they left the toyshop.

o0o

After a short visit to the food court, where Teyla had her first McDonalds, enjoying the cheeseburger, but not caring much for the cold ice cream.

Kimberley giggled as she thought of Teylas first brain freeze, sniggering as Carson managed to get one. She took a bite of her ice cream, and then held her head.

"Severs you right." Carson chided her.

"Any other shops you wanna hit?" Kimberley asked them once her brain had cooled down enough.

"What is that?" Teyla asked, pointing to a store with a large bear in the window.

"Clintons." Kimberley trailed off with a look on her face.

"I don't like that look." Carson muttered to Teyla as Kimberley rushed into the store, grabbed a large Winnie the Pook bear and went to the check out.

"I think Dara explained it as her 'I have an idea that is going to hurt someone' face." Teyla explained.

Kimberley returned with the bear, and moved to hand it to Teyla, then paused and handed it to Carson. "Hold this for us please? It's for Torren."

"You do not have to-" "Teyla, come with me a minute? We'll be back in a minute." Kimberley interrupted Teyla and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the ladies room.

Carson stood there, in the middle of the upper floor, holding a large yellow orange teddy bear and tried not to look too crazy.

Teyla and Kimberley exited the rest room and paused at the mob that had formed.

Kimberley turned to her friend. "You don't think-"

"It is highly likely that Doctor Beckett is being crushed by that mob." Teyla nodded, and together they elbowed their way into the crowd, ducking under arms, pushing bodies out of the way and almost body slamming someone who tried pulling Teylas hair.

Carson stood on one of the tables, absolutely petrified. One of his sleeves was missing, a shoe had disappeared and his hair was messed up - well, more so than normal.

"CARSON WE LOVE YOU!"

"MARRY ME PAUL!"

"HE'S MARRYING ME YOU BITCH!"

"PAUL! PAUL! PAUL!"

"I'm getting a head ache." Kimberley spoke quietly to herself. 'Please tell me I wasn't this much of a fan girl!'

"OH MY GOD ITS RACHEL!" Someone noticed Teyla. "Who's the girl?"

Kimberley didn't know weather to sigh, roll her eyes or punch the guy that was reaching for Carsons butt. "Okay, we're leaving."

"How ar ye gettin us oot ae ere?" Carson asked.

Kimberley took a breath, then pointed to the side. "OH MY GOD ITS JOE FLANAGAN AND JASON MOMMOA!"

"JOE!"

"JASON!"

"ANYBODY!"

The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving only a few dozen stragglers. Kimberley leant over and grabbed Carson's wrist, pulling him off the table and as one, the three of them ran towards the back stairs, not pausing until they were at the puddle jumper.

Teyla and Carson watched Kimberley bend over to try to catch her breath, then watched perplexed as she looked up at them with a grin in her face. "Who wants to go into town?"

o0o

Teyla, Carson and Kimberley stepped outside Forbidden Planet, a science fiction store, and double checked their wares

"Are you sure Ronon will like this poster?" Teyla asked.

"If not pass it off to Teal'c." Kimberley shrugged, turning to walk towards the back alley where they hid the puddle jumper when she bumped into someone. "Oh sorry I-Dad?"

"I thought you were taking part in some kind of American military project?" Her father pointed out.

"I am. I've got the weekend off." Kimberley replied.

"Kimberley, who are these people?" Teyla interrupted, noting her new friends beginning stages of anxiety.

"There are my parents." Kimberley replied. "Mom, Dad, this is Rachel and Paul."

"They look like those two idiots from that show you wasted a good ten years of your life on." Her mother replied curtly.

Kimberleys face flushed. "They're not idiots."

Her mother huffed. "They sure do look it to me."

"Mom that's enough!" Kimberley raised her voice.

"Here we got again." Her father muttered. "Not in the middle of the town!"

Carson stepped forward as the man raised his voice. "Excuse me sir but-"

"What are you doing hanging around with my wee girl?" Her father asked, stepping forward to poke the medical doctor in the chest.

Kimberley stepped between them. "Will you stop it-?"

Her father grabbed her wrist. "If you're finished gallivanting off with these American freaks then you should come home!"

"Release her." Teyla demanded, a hand on the mans pressure points.

Slowly he did so. Teyla put an arm around Kimberley, nodded to Carson, and moved to leave the area.

"Who the hell are you to try and tell your daughter what she should and should not do?" Carson began. "She is doing something that makes her happy, something that brings a smile to her face and some thing that she is good at. What in the name of Mercury gives you the right to try and take that away from her?"

"How dare you-"

"Don't get me stared on you missy." Carson whirled around to glare at Kimberleys mother. "After seeing you two, I'm surprised she hasne left Glasgow years ago. Now if you'll excuse me, your daughter will need some consoling after you two Preisty Posers up set her."

Kimberleys mother and father watched the man leave, and wondered (not for the first time) what their daughter was really mixed up with.

o0o

The puddle jumper was silent as the trio made their way home.

Kimberley was driving, Teyla was watching the skies and Carson was working on what to say to the still quiet female.

"You don't really believe what they say, do you?" Carson asked Kimberley, who shrugged, continuing to drive the puddle jumper at a more sedate pace. "I know they're your parents Kimburley and that you love them dearly, but the way they act and speak to you-"

"They care for me; they just don't know how to show it right." Kimberley cut him off. Her eyes flit to his. "There are all kinds of love; there are different ways of showing it. Mines just show it with anger and loud voices. It's no biggie."

"That's not the way parents are supposed to show their love." He replied.

"Look it doesn't matter, just, don't' tell anyone, please?" She asked him, turning to look at him.

Teyla grabbed the controls and began steering the ship away from the Boeing 747.

"You do realize that there are others that care for you, and I mean care as in a proper way?" Carson asked her.

Kimberley shrugged and looked back to the HUD.

"Kimburley." He spoke her name clearly and placed a hand on her chair, twirling her around. "There are different ways to care for someone, and everyone that knows you on Atlantis, even the ones that you don't think so, do care for you."

She smiled a little at him. "I guess the same can be said for you're cloned ass too."

He looked a little taken aback. "What?"

"I noticed the way you sit a breakfast before the gang arrive." She explained. "You look around as though no one wants to sit beside you because you came from a womb with a view. But everyone that knows you care for you, because not only are you Carson Beckett, you are Carson Beckett revived from the ashes."

"I hate to interrupt but we have almost arrived and I do not know how to land this vessel." Teyla sadly interrupted their moment.

o0o

A few TV shows later Dara and John return to the living room, the male looking confused as hell.

"Everything okay?" Len asked, taking a breath from explaining things about Harry Potter to Ronon to look at the leader of the off world team.

"Er, yeah, fine." John replied off handily, eyes flitting between Dara and the recently arrived back Kimberley. "Hey Len have you ever thought about visiting Atlantis?"

"Been there, done that, gave you the Zee PM." Len raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, like stay for a while-" Dara elbowed John.

"Can it Sheppard, it won't work." Dara hissed at him.

"Jeez." He moaned, holding his ribs.

"Dara, please stop breaking their military officer." Kimberley joked as she entered the room, not missing the look John sent her way, the same look he had been giving her all day. 'Huh?'

"Rodney finished with Catherine yet?" Carson asked, double-checking the bags he had in his hands, handing one over to Kimberley. "Thank you for diner hen."

"Your we-welcome." She stuttered as he kissed her on her cheek. "When are you guys leaving?"

"Just as soon as Rodney's done." John replied. 'Is he intentionally trying to give her a heart attack?'

"I'll go check on them." Len suggested, flying from her chair and running down the hall, leaving Ronon zombiefied in front of the TV, Carson wondering if Kimberley was going to explode, John glaring at the Scottish woman and Dara looking busy in her own mind.

Seconds later the Canadian woman returned, her little sister and the scientist in tow. "So the crystals?"

"Next time either of us visits, they will be given to you." Rodney promised, slapping his hands together in glee. "Right, lets get this show on the road."

"I guess I'll see ya later." Kimberley smiled at Carson. "Remember what I said."

"Aye." Carson promised and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Remember what I said too hen."

Slowly the girls walked the guys out of the house and towards the waiting puddle jumper, Teyla quickly hiding a make up box from their view.

"See you guys later." Kimberley smiled to them all, smile faltering as she noticed the glare still on Johns face.

'Sooner than you think.' The military man thought, nodding slightly to Dara before they entered the jumper, the hatch closing with hiss.

The girls watched with mixed feelings are the jumper raised into the air and began to fly away, some of them happy, some of them confused as it became a spot, a speck, and then nothing.

"I wonder why Kimberley hasn't freaked out about Carson being alive yet?" Catherine asked Len.

Len just smiled. "You didn't know? Dara helped him get rescued early before the moved to Atlantis. They've been living near each other since then. And according to my sources she's also went on a date with him."

"So are they going out now"? Catherine pulled a face.

"No. It didn't work out." Len sighed.

o0o

"Dara?"

Dara lifted her head from her pink folder, eyebrows furrowing as to why her mom was shouting for her. 'I haven't done anything. Yet.'

"Yea Mom?" Dara shouted down the stairs, raising a finger in the air towards Kimberley, who was still on the computer.

"You've got a phone message from one of the nice security men at the convention you were at." Her mom continued. "Apparently your banned because you beat up one of the actors and freaked another one out."

"WHAT!"

o0o

"I don't really see why we need to have a post op mission for when we visit the girls." John moaned, sitting on the infirmary bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Its precautionary." Jennifer Keller responded, already been through this argument with the head of the military officer and his comrades several times before. "Off with your shirt Col."

"What about dinner and a date first?" John questioned.

"Hey!" Rodney shouted from his spot a few gurneys down, glaring at his friend hitting on the woman he liked.

"Sorry." John muttered, quickly taking off the bothersome item of clothing, wincing as he moved his arms above his head, removing the top.

"What's that Ronon?" Carson asked Ronon, finally noting the piece of paper in his hands.

"All you can eat buffet ticket for the convention centre." Ronon waved the smaller piece around in the air, then showed him the other. "And an eight by four print of the guy that looks like me."

"Is it signed?" Rodney asked, head pricking up. 'If we go back to the girls reality, it might be worth something!'

"Yeah." Ronon replied, putting the papers down on the bed and placing his arms behind his back, resting on the bed.

Jenifer gasped, causing everyone in the infirmary to turn around and look at them.

Every inch of Johns left arm was covered in bruises. "How on Earth did you get into that state?"

"Would you believe a rouge NID agent?"


	14. Kimberley Meets Michael

Carson smiles to Jennifer as he relieves her. "Any thing major?"

Jennifer shakes her head, then remembers something. "Ronon is teaching the new personnel in the sparring room."

"How many newbie's?" Carson asked, preparing the mobile RS (Ronon Sparring) kit.

"Just one." Jennifer smiled sadly.

"Who is it?" Carson was a bit afraid to ask.

"Kimberley." Jennifer replied.

"Ah, well, that ain't so good." Carson frowned.

o0o

"C'mon Boyce, if you want to go off world soon you gotta show us you can use your brain!" John called out as Kimberley ducked away from Ronon again. "Try hitting him."

"And then he hits me back, no thank you!" Kimberley snapped, turning to look at him, then turning back at the last second to miss Ronons stick as it sailed towards her head, causing her to fall backwards onto the training mat.

Ronon grinned above her.

Her legs swept out and brought him onto his back, his stick lying on the ground. Kimberley rolled over and grabbed it, tapping him on his stomach and claiming victory.

"Told you you could win one." Ronon grinned to her as she tried to help him stand.

"Yeah, my one win against your eighteen sure is a big accomplishment." She rolled her eyes.

"What did she say?" Ronon whispered to John, who did a palms up.

"Can we take a break?" Kimberley asked.

Ronon looked to John, who glanced at his watch then nodded. "Sure."

"Oh thank god!" Kimberley sighed and flopped from the bench onto the floor, spreading her limbs and sighing contently.

"Okay, breaks over." John spoke quickly.

Kimberley's head flew above her chest. "Man about to get hurt say what now?"

Dara chose that moment to enter. "John, just the military man I wanted to see."

"Is this a military thing or a man thing?" He asked as she stepped beside him.

"Can I borrow that?" Dara motioned to the sticks in Kimberley's hands. Kimberley handed them over with no problem. "Thanks."

"What do you -OW!" John jumped back as she hit him with both the sticks on one hand. "Quit doing that!"

"Col. Carter wants to see you and Ronon about golf balls found in the south pier." Dara hit him again for good measure then handed the sticks back to Kimberley, who accepted help from Ronon to stand up.

"Ow." Dara turned as Kimberley winced.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, but I think it did something to my ankle." She replied and tried to set it down, wincing through the pain.

"Ha! Pay up!" John held his palm up to Ronon.

"Infirmary first." Ronon replied.

"Wait, you guys bet against me?" Kimberley demanded.

"I didn't, he did." Ronon pointed to John, who smirked at her.

Kimberley bit her lip, slightly worried that the head of the military, and a guy who she thought was alright before she got there, was betting FOR her to get hurt.

Dara smacked his arm again.

"What was that for!" John demanded.

"Inviting bad Karma to Atlantis." Dara muttered to him, then turned to Kimberley. "Lets get you to the infirmary."

"No transporters!" She screeched in her ear.

Dara rubbed her ear. "It'll be an extra ten minute walk, with two flights of stairs..."

"Don't care, don't like the transporters." Kimberley spoke darkly.

"No need to go to the infirmary, the infirmary can come to you." A new voice added from behind the, and everyone turned around to see Carson standing there with his medical kit. "Someone call for a doctor?"

"I swear sometimes you guys have ESP." John grinned. "Hey Carson."

"Hullo John. No, no ESP, but we do have Arty." He smiled.

"Arty?" Ronon asked, helping Kimberley over to the bench.

"Arty Pie, Eye in the Sky." Kimberley replied, then blushed. "Uh, hi Carson."

"Hullo Kimberley. How did you manage to hurt your ankle?" Carson asked, taking off her sanny be bobs and sock, stretching her foot out and pressing around the ankle as she winced.

"Blame Ronon and his best one outta nineteen." She rolled her eyes towards the Sedetan, who grinned at her.

"After the first four or six rounds she was doing pretty good." Ronon admitted.

"When did you hurt your ankle?" Carson asked, replacing her sock and shoe.

"At the last round." Kimberley replied and looked around the room.

"Really?" Carson asked, a look of 'are you really trying to lie to me?' on his face.

"Okay, about four rounds ago, jeez give a girl a break! Pretty soon I'll be running for my life after loosing a pint of blood with a broken bone some where off world with aliens trying to kill me!" Kimberley threw her hands into the air, then blushed some more. "I guessed I should get some practise in."

Ronon and John looked at Kimberley.

"Well in any case, you've just sprained your ankle. Just keep it on ice and rested for a few days and everything will be fine." Carson smiled to her, and Kimberley felt her face flush once more. "So what are your plans for the next few days?"

"I think I've got more paper work." Her leg twitched. "And I was supposed to go off world with AT1 for my first off world mission."

"Its a necessity that the IOA agreed on." Dara pointed out. "Since I got off world and encounter some not so friendly individuals, they want to see how Kimberley deals with them with only minimal training."

"I see." Carson nodded his head. "Alright, you can still go, but I'm coming with."

"What? No! you don't have to do that." Kimberley shook her head. "Don't you have some other planets to visit?"

"I would rather make sure that you were alright." Carson smiled to her. Kimberley ducked her head.

"Anyone for some lunch?" Dara spoke to John and Ronon, who both nodded.

o0o

Two days later Kimberley's ankle was better than before and she was rushing around in a blind panic.

Dara knocked on her door and walked in as it swished open. "Hey you almost- jeez what exploded in here?"

Kimberley paused mid step to look at Dara, then the mess and clutter that was on every available space. "I'll uh, clean it up in a minute mom, honest."

"Hey don't mind me." Dara shrugged and stepped in, making her way through the mess to Kimberley's bed and hopped on it, placing her hands behind her back. "What are you looking for?"

"Maya Dust and bottle of Vodka." She replied, dropping to the ground and stuck her ands under the bed, bringing out the round silver disc about two inches deep and the litre of alcohol.

"Okay, I can guess why the camp fire starter, but the booze?" Dara raised an eye brow.

"You never know what you will need when you are off world." Kimberley pointed the bottle towards Dara.

Dara took it and placed it on a large bear. "But you also have your medicine man coming with you."

"Do you think I'll need the Maya dust?" she asked, looking at the container and her already full backpack.

"What do you have in that thing?" Dara motioned for the bag.

"Uh, lighter fluid, papers, note books, writing implements, back up batteries for the radios and McKay's toys, binoculars, mini first aid kit, provisions, chocolate bars, bottles of water, flare gun, rope..." She looked through the bag. "Sewing kit, spare bobbles and hair brush, a change of clothes."

Kimberley paused and looked at Dara. "Think I missed anything?"

"Kitchen sink?"

"Naa, got some hand sanitizers, water purifiers and throw away cutlery and plates in here too." Kimberley shook her head. "What chu come in for?"

"To see if you were nearly ready." Dare rolled her eyes. "John keeps shouting in my ear about you getting you to the infirmary for a pre mission check up."

"He still hoping I've picked up the measusles or some other really harmful disease since yesterday?" Kimberley sighed.

"Yup." Dara nodded.

Kimberley zipped up her back pack and stood up, tossing the camouflage jacket on before picking up the bag and slug it over her shoulders. "Okay, lets go!"

o0o

As Chuck entered the last of the dialling sequence, John turned to look at the main entrance from the infirmary bay. 'She might not make it!'

Carson smiled. "Hullo Kimberley."

'Damn she made it.' John glowered. "Bout time Boyce."

"Sorry, had a chat with Dara." Kimberley replied and kicked the steps with her boots, wincing.

"Interesting?" John asked with fake innocence.

"Uh, kinda." Kimberley nodded her head.

_Dara handed Kimberley an inch thick stack of papers. "Uh, the latest __offerings from__ Bethany?"_

_"No, a list of things you are NOT to do off world." Dara explained._

_"This is pretty thick." Kimberley leafed through the pages. "And double sided. Size eight font."_

_"Its not __exhaustive__ either." Dara pointed out. "Basically, think about stuff before you do it. If it makes your laugh, don't do it, if it makes other people laugh, don't do it, if it might injure anything, don't do."_

_"What if it saves someone __else's__ life?" __Kimberley__ asked._

_"Will it endanger anyone __else's__ including your own?" She replied, then __nodded__ as Kimberley nodded. "Then don't do it."_

"Right, we ready to head out?" John asked, looking to his team mates.

Ronon checked his for show weapons and nodded. Teyla smiled to Torren and Kannan before turning back to John with a strained smile on her face.

Rodney muttered about needing extra batteries just in case and Carson rolled his eyes, checking his straps were secure and nodded his own head.

"Lets move out!" John ordered, bopping his head to Chuck as the gate activated and the worm hole established.

Kimberley slowly walked up to the Stargate and sucked in a breath, looking at the event horizon and how it shimmered and shimmed as John, then Teyla, followed by Rodney walked through it.

Carson paused as he stepped closer to speak to her. "are you alright?"

"Uh hu." Kimberley nodded, a grin beginning to split her face.

Ronon stopped behind the procession and rolled his eyes.

"You sure?" Carson asked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Kimberley's body buckled away from him and she nodded. "Ya, I mean, I'm walking through a Stargate, me, a crazy chick from Glasgow who was most likely to end up either a writer for Hollywood or in an insane asylum, but now I'm actually in a different dimension thingy about to walk through what I thought for 15 years was really just some old guys last ditch attempt at making a good pitch and oh my god I can't believe that this is happening to me!"

As Kimberley regained her breath Ronon walked around the two Scottish people and entered the gate.

Carson looked at her a little worried. "Do you want to talk with Doctor Heightmyer?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll be fine its just, how do I know all this is real? How do I know I'm not just dreaming this and am about to wake up to get to work once I step through the gate?"

Carson put his hand in hers and held it tightly. "C'mon Kimberley, if you wake up I'll wake up."

Kimberley's smile increased and she nodded to him, walking to the gate. At the last second she held back. Carson turned to her.

Kimberley raised a hand and placed it on the established wormhole, slowly raking her fingers over the energy pool. 'I'm really going to step through a Stargate!'

Closing her eyes she thought that she should say something clever before stepping through. Thinking of nothing she went with the tried and tested saying. 'Star light star bright, first star I step through tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, receive the wish I wish tonight - I wish for a friendly mission.'

Closing her eyes, and gripping Carsons hand tighter, Kimberley stepped through the wormhole, opening them once she felt her feet on solid ground and let go of Carsons hand to grasp her knees.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "See, she cant even keep her breakfast down."

"Didn't have any." Kimberley grinned a secret smile as her chest began to stop quaking. "And I'm not upchucking, just a little unbalanced what with all my particles just been put back together again for the first time."

Rodney mouthed away behind her, his face a picture as the worm hole disconnected.

Ronon brought his gun up.

"Wait don't shoot!" Kimberley exclaimed and threw her hands in the air, ducking as Ronon shot his gun.

"Get over here Boyce!" John demanded and Kimberley scrambled towards them, turning at the last second to see a Wraith hybrid shoot her.

o0o

Teyla slowly woke up, the feeling of dread not leaving her as she realised where she was. 'A hive ship!'

Glancing around she noted Ronon was still completely unconscious and had several kick marks on his arms. John was slowly coming too and Rodney was lying beside Kimberley, both Earthlings cuddling to each other.

Carson was no where to be seen.

o0o

Rodney cuddled into the warmth, glad his head wasn't as sore as it should have been for getting shot by the Wraith.

Waitaminute.

"WRAITH!"

Ronon and Rodney sprang up, taking the person Rodney was lying beside him with him which caused them to fall back with a thump.

o0o

As her head hit the ground Kimberley snapped awake, groaning as her head began to hurt almost instantly. "Anyone get the number of that Prime?"

Someone hauled her up be her shoulders. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Kimberley opened her eyes and tried to blink at him. "Three, I think..."

"How can we tell is she has brain damage?" Rodney asked and Kimberley glared at him.

"If she can hit you then she doesn't have brain damage!" Kimberley snapped.

"If she is talking about herself in third person then she may have brain damage." Teyla pointed out.

"She may just be regularly insane?" Kimberley questioned.

"She better not be any more brain damaged or I'm getting killed when we get back." John groaned.

"Want some pain killers?" Kimberley asked and removed her boot.

Rodney rolled his eyes. 'Not that the things will be any thing but-what?' "Why did they not turn into powder?"

Kimberley looked from her pouch to him. "I taped it to my boot."

"Oh." Rodney replied.

"Where did you tape it to?" Kimberley asked.

"My sock." He replied quietly.

Kimberley's lips twitched and she laughed out loud.

"This is not a joking time Boyce." John cut in.

Kimberley's face flushed and she looked down cast.

"Teyla, can you fit through the bars?" John asked.

Teyla looked at the bars, and then at John like he was a few constellations short for a gate address. "I do not think so."

"Only a suggestion!" He replied at her look.

"How many knifes you got big guy?" John turned to Ronon, who was watching Kimberley. 'What is she up to now?'

John turned around slowly and his jaw dropped.

Kimberley paused from emptying her pockets. "What?"

Ronon picked up one of the four knifes and examined them. "Nice."

"Thanks." Kimberley replied and made sure her pockets were empty before looking through what she brought with her. "Think they'll give us our stuff back?"

Suddenly John was wondering what damage Kimberley could do to the Wraith if they didn't give her the backpack back. 'This could get messy.'

"Why do you have a life signs detector in your pocket?" Teyla asked, selecting something from the pile.

"Its kinda like when you go on holiday, you put most of your junk under the plane and carry some with you in case the baggage boys decide to act like they have selective bagging capabilities." Kimberley replied, then realised they might not know what she was talking about. "Uhh, for like just in case."

"That was very strategic thinking on your part." Teyla inclined her head and smiled briefly, trying to distract Kimberley from Johns shocked face.

o0o

Dara shivered, sneezing at the end of it.

"You okay?" Chuck asked, glancing up from his station as she passed.

"Yeah, just felt like something weird just happened." Dara replied, a far off look on her face.

o0o

"So this is a Wraith Hive ship?" Kimberley asked, a hand trailing along the wall, a look of utter fascination on her face.

"Yes, and that means there are _Wraith_ near by!" Rodney exclaimed, messing around with the scanner trying to get it to work.

Kimberley turned to him quickly, suddenly realising something. "Where's Carson?"

"Oh I give up!" Rodney threw his hands into the air. "Why is it always where is the medic or the Kirk! Why does the scientist never get a look in, huh?"

"I'm sorry Rodney, do you want me to concentrating more on you than the Wraith clone of your friend that is missing?" Kimberley snapped.

"Well, at the moment no, but, in the future..." Rodney trailed off as foot steps started towards them.

"Did you just jinx us?" John asked Kimberley, glaring at her.

"I didn't do anything yet!" Kimberley threw her hands out in front of her in protest.

'Yeah, yet.' Several individuals thought.

The footsteps stopped just outside their cell. Kimberley felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and breathed in slightly, black spots dancing in her eyes as she recognised the smell.

"And who is this?" Michael cocked his head. "A new member of your expedition?"

Slowly Kimberley turned around and fear flashed through her eyes. Images of Michael from the TV series, of how he died, the way he helped her all those months ago which caused her to be there at that moment in time snapped something in her insane mind and she smiled to him, one thought going through her mind.

"Technically I'm an alien too." Kimberley replied, then slapped her hands over her mouth. "Shouldn't have said that."

"Technically?" Michael repeated.

"I'm, erm, from a far away place." She semi-fibbed.

John stepped forward to try and keep Kimberley's other foot from entering her mouth. "She's from Earth."

"But not the same Earth." Michael turned his attention to John. "Col. Sheppard how, pleasant to see you again."

"I could think of another adjective." Rodney muttered.

"Doctor McKay, how is your sister?" Michael smirked as the scientist paled.

"Erm, any chance you can let us go? Safe and in one piece preferably?" Kimberley waved to him and smiled.

Teyla and Ronon shifted behind the three, anticipating some kind of fight. Or in one persons thoughts, hoping.

"Please?" The notably stupidest individual in the ship asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

"It is nice to see that some human traits are not all forgotten." Michael stared at Teyla.

"Ohh, right, well, I'm Kimberley." Kimberley smiled and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"Call me Michael." He extended his hand and John jumped to attention.

"Chill John, it isn't his feeding hand." She batted him away and took his hand, shaking it.

"It is refreshing to see a human that is not afraid of me." Michael stated.

"Dude, I'm petrified!" Kimberley replied before she could help it. "But, erm, where's Carson?"

"Doctor Beckett is assisting me with a very delicate procedure." Michael released her hand. "And I am in need of a volunteer."

"I'll go." John stepped forward, shielding Teyla and Ronon from Michaels view.

"Why don't I go?" Kimberley suggested.

"No, you stay here with the rest of us. I'm the leader of this team and I say who goes and who stays." John glared at her to shut the hell up. "I'm going and your staying."

"Actually, I have already made my own decision." Michael informed them, then turned slightly. "This way."

Kimberley didn't like the way he was looking at her.

John stepped forward.

"Not you." Michael frowned. "The female."

The men looked to each other and then to the two females.

"Not Teyla." Michael seemed like he wanted to sigh at their stupidity.

"Who me?" Kimberley asked.

Michael nodded.

John watched as she walked away, one hand trailing along the hive ship walls, a shimmering line being left behind her.

o0o

Carson looked up from his spot on the wall as the door opened and Michael walked in, then Kimberley behind him. "Kimberley!"

"Hiya Carson." Kimberley smile to him. "So, what's up?"

Carson looked at the alien Scottish girl and at the two foot distance between himself and the ground and cocked an eye brow. "Are the others okay?"

"They're in a holding cell but they're ah, holding it together." Kimberley smiled. "Now, what's this experiment you want some help with?"

Michael stalked over to a consol and pressed a few buttons. Carson fell from the wall, free. "I want to know the genetic differences between a Human from this reality, and one from another."

"I'll just go hunt down someone from another reality." Kimberley spoke quickly and pointed behind her, starting to turn away and walked into a brick wall. 'Holy crap its Otto!'

Carson stepped beside Michael, his face full of thunder. "What do you think you are planning! I'm no experimenting oan her!"

"Either you run the tests on the female." Michael paused for effect. "Or she will run the tests on you."

Kimberley looked panicked. "I never even took Biology!"

Michael continued to stare at Carson. Carson continued to glare at the mad geneticist.

Kimberley looked between the two, and began to edge her way to the bags that she spotted beside Carson.

"What are you doing?" Otto asked, and Kimberley whirled around to look at him.

"I'm going for some water." She replied innocently, continuing her stride to grab her bag and set it on the table beside Michael and Carson, who continued to stare at each other.

Otto watched her take a bottle from a bag and drink most of its contents before putting it back in the bag.

Kimberley picked up the bag and walked behind Michael, raising the bag and threw it with all her might into his head, the contents spilling out and flying everywhere.

Carson whirled around and ducked to avoid being hit by the objects, and watched in fascinated horror as the mini first aid kit from Kimberley's bag when soaring through the air and hit Otto, knocking him to the ground instantly. 'Talk about ironic.'

He turned his head to look from the downed Wraith to Kimberley, who was frantically trying to get her things back in her bag. "Never mind your things Kimberley."

She stopped moving and looked up at him. "I ain't leaving my stuff here. Either help me or grab the guys' stuff."

Carson grabbed the other bags and weapons before turning around, seeing Kimberley bending down to pick up the mini first aid kit. He crossed the room and grabbed her arm. "C'mon hen, we need to find the others."

"Its this way." Kimberley stated and pointed to the left.

"No, no, its this way." Carson denied.

"I marked the wall with chalk." Kimberley explained.

"Oh, lead on then." Carson smiled at her.

"With life sucking space vampires around every corner? No thank you!" Kimberley denied.

"I'll take point then." Carson sighed and walked a head, turning back to keep an eye on her, eventually grabbing her hand. "C'mon hen, I don't want to loose you."

"Ditto." She smiled back at him.

o0o

John counted the ways Dara was going to kill him. It had been half an hour since Kimberley left the cell and no one, Wraith nor rescue party, had passed by since. 'At least there hasn't been an explosion yet.'

The alarms sounded.

'Well, at least it wasn't an explosion.' He thought, standing up and walking over to his group.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" A female voice shouted the same time a male voice called out. "Stand back!"

KA-BOOM!

"And there's the explosion." John muttered, turning back to where the cell door was and grinned. "Carson! You made it buddy."

"Aye, but you should really thank Kimberley." Carson nodded to the female behind him before he gave out the bags and weapons. "And her bag."

His grin fell.

"We passed a dart bay, so if you can pilot it John we'll be outta here in no time." Kimberley explained and put the charger safely back in her bag.

John was a little worried about how good and together Kimberley was acting. "Are you alright?"

"Ask me that when we are not in the middle of a hive ship with its commander probably gunning for my hide." Kimberley snapped, and John noticed for the first time how shaky her hands where, then how shaky her whole body was.

"Maybe you should sit down?" John walked closer to her, and spoke to Carson. "I think she's going into shock."

"She is not going into shock she wants out of here!" Kimberley growled.

"Lets get her back to Atlantis as soon as possible, I don't want her to have a nervous break down on the ship with no proper medical team around." Carson explained.

"Or drugs." Ronon added.

"That too." Carson nodded and they followed Kimberley, who was being watched closely by Teyla.

Seven minutes of walking, thirteen dead Wraith, one wall walked into and two snaps from Kimberley and Rodney, the gang found themselves in the dart bay.

John moved to the nearest one and started it up, going through the motions and sucking everyone up before flying out of the hive and through a near by Stargate, disengaging and reengaging it to fly to different destinations before finally dialling Atlantis.

"Atlantis, this is Sheppard."

"Nice to hear from you Col, but you're early for your check in, everything okay?" Carter asked.

"Uh, kinda. We're coming home early and with a present." John grinned.

"The doors open." John could imagine Carter nodding to him and drove the dart through the gate, grinning at their reactions. "Where are the other members of AT1?"

John beamed them out, Ronon and Teyla landing gracefully, Carson and Rodney landing in a heap together and Kimberley landed on the steps, and quickly lost her balance, which caused her to fall to the ground and land on her ankle, again.

o0o

Later on Dara entered the infirmary to chat with her friend.

"So you met Michael?" Dara asked as Kimberley sat in the infirmary. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Kimberley lied.

"Kimberley, I know you." Dara responded.

"Well..." Kimberley told her a condensed version (omitting the various things that she should not have said to Michal from the story) and then smiled to her.

Dara glared at her incredulously. "Did you not read the list? Number 62 specifically said 'Do NOT speak with, and or communicate in any way with Michael of the Wraith Human Hybrid community!'"


	15. The Past is Just Memories

Kimberley looked around as she tried to sneaked through the halls, towards the secondary Jumper Bay. After the last mission she was on with John's team, she began to think on how hard with her being here on Atlantis. She couldn't believe that she had let Dara down, again. She figured she could go back to her earth. Granted, there was one slight problem with going back home, but she would think of something.

When she finally made it to the secondary Jumper Bay, she quickly made her way into the back of Dara's Puddle Jumper. Once she entered it, she hits the button, which causes the back hatch to close. Moving towards the driver's chair, she sits down and begins to activate the Puddle Jumper.

Minutes later, she got the Puddle Jumper out of the bay, out of the ocean, and into the air. As she made her way towards space, the radio crackles to life and Dara's voice comes on over it. "KIMBERLEY! You bring my Puddle Jumper back, RIGHT NOW!"

Reaching over, she presses the button to open a line back to them. "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I'll just screw up again. I'm going back home where I can't hurt anybody."

* * *

Kimberley's voice crackles over the line, saying, "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I'll just screw up again. I'm going back home where I can't hurt anybody."

"Don't you dare!" Dara screamed into the console, making John and Chuck wince in pain.

"I'm sorry, Dara, but I have too!" Kimberley replied over the line.

About that time, Chuck registered the fact that the girl's Stargate opened up. Carefully he points toward the screen, directing Dara's attention to it. "Kimberley, listen to me! If you don't bring back my Puddle Jumper, I'll kill you! You hear me!"

It was then, the satellite they had in orbit around the moon, so it could pick up and receive signals from the Stargate, registered a large energy flux. That was before the satellite, itself, cut off communications.

Dara looks over at Rodney, that sat at another console, and asked, "What happiened?"

Rodney gives her this look of fear, before slowly answering, "If I'm reading this right, there was an explosion."

Dara stood there for a second, then ran towards the Primary Jumper Bay. John stares at her moving backside, the chases after her. When he finally met up with her, she was in the first Jumper that they came across, trying to get the thing to fly. Seeing how she didn't have the ATA Gene, she couldn't get it to do anything. As he stepped closer, she turns the chair and looks at him. "John, get me up there! I need to find out what happened!"

"Alright, we will." Pressing his ear piece, he says into it, "Rodney, get up here now. We need you to make sure on what happiened."

* * *

Kimberley groans and picks her head up off the Puddle Jumper's console. Carefully, she reaches up and lightly touches her forehead. Pulling her hand away, she gets a good look at her finger tips, noticing the blood on them. "Knowing my luck, I have a concussion." Turning the chair, she does a quick check of her body to make sure all her parts were there and nothing was wrong. Sighing with relief, she turns back around and looks out the window.

Outside the window there was a jungle and nothing more. Touching the console, managed to get the Jumper to pull up information on the planet she was currently on. Most of it just told her the air was breathable, the temperatures and sun wouldn't kill her. Turning the chair once again, she gets up and heads for the hatch. Taking a deep breath, she hits the button causing the hatch to open.

When hatch opened, Kimberley steps out an feels the warm air swirling around her. Taking a few more steps, she looks around, hoping to figure out where she was. Sighing, she shakes her head and heads back in. Sitting down in her usual Co-Pilot's chair, she tries to think on what to do next.

"Okay, I don't know where I'm at and how I got here. So, hopefully Dara will figure out what happened and save me." Standing up, she goes towards the back and begins to search through the over head bins. "On the plus side, Dara was smart to make sure there is a month worth supplies in here."

* * *

Kimberley jerked her head up from the pillow. She had thought she had heard a noise, that woke her from her sleep. Throwing back the blanket, she sits up on the bench seat of the back of the Puddle Jumper. It had been two days and there still wasn't any rescue for her. She was beginning to wonder if Dara would ever figure out what happened to her. Sighing, she started to debate whether she should get back to sleep or get up for the day and wait.

The answer to her question, came in a form of a knock on the back hatch. Not knowing if it was safe or not, she decides to risk it and she comes up with a plan. Grabbing a black baseball bat that Dara had left in one of the bins, she gets up on the bench seat and stands as close to the wall, near the back hatch, as she could. She hits the button and carefully raises the bat up, encase of a sudden attack.

Once the door lower, a single man with slight curly, short brown hair walks in. Fear griped at her and Kimberley calls out, "Who are you and what do you want?"

The man turns around and smiles at her. "Fascinating!"

Kimberley lowers the bat, just a little, thinking she might recognize him. Still not taking any chances, she doesn't completely lower it. "You're that bloke that helped Dr. Weir!"

"You know of Dr. Weir? Did she make it?"

"Ummm," Kimberley starts to say as she lowers the bat. "Yeah, she did, but she ended up really old. She didn't survive long after that."

"That is sad news." His face falls for a second, then the smile pops right back up. "This is quit fascinating. Please, come down from there. There is much to discuss." He reaches his hand up towards her, offering to help her down.

Kimberley stands there for a second, starring at Janus's hand. Then without any hesitation, she takes his hand and he helps her down. "So, ummm, why are you here?"

"I guess the real question is, what are you doing here? I belong here. You, I take it from your wonderful device, not so much."

"Where is here, actually?"

"Here, is the planet, Terra. The major planet in the Ancient's empire!" Stopping, he gives off another smile. "I take it, you are one of our descendants? There is certain things about you that remind me of Dr. Weir."

"Do I give it away that much?"

"Yes, pretty much so." Stepping away, he spins a slow 360, getting a good look at the Puddle Jumper. "Please, tell me. Where did you get this device?"

"What? This? Don't you guys have these type of ships?"

Janus turns and smiles towards Kimberley. "We do, but I do notice a lot of differences in this machine, compared to ours."

"Oh! Umm, a younger sister of a friend of mine kind of made it."

"Has your kind finally evolved that far to do that kind of stuff?"

"No, just her."

"Come on, let's go. This area isn't the safest to be in."

Kimberley looks around the Jumper, afraid of that fact. "What about the ship? I have to get it out of here! My friend will kill me if I let anything happen to it!"

Janus tilts his head to the side and looks at her. "Your friend?"

"Yeah, this is hers. I kind of borrowed it, without asking."

"Do not worry. The ship will be fine. Nothing will happen to it. It's just not a safe area for anyone to wander." Janus turns and heads out the back hatch. "Don't worry. We'll be back for it. I won't leave it here to be harm. Don't want your friend mad at you."

"Thanks," Kimberley says as she follows him out of the Puddle Jumper and into his, heading back to who knows where.

* * *

Kimberley watched as Janus carefully landed his Puddle Jumper next to another one. Looking out the window she could see a small settlement outside. "What is this place?"

Janus turns in the pilot's chair and looks at Kimberley. "This is one of the outposts on this planet. We have a few scattered through out the planet, but this is the biggest one we have. The council is actually stationed here."

"The council?"

"The Ancient's Council."

"Oh." Kimberley watched as Janus got up from the Captain's chair and headed for the back hatch.

Pressing the button, the back hatch begins to open. Turning, he smiles towards Kimberley. "Shall we go, ummm."

"Ummm?"

"My apologies. I've become so fascinated with this mystery, that I forgot to ask your name."

"Oh," Kimberley says, when it hits her. "My name is Kimberley Boyce."

"It's nice to meet you, Kimberley. As you already know, my name is Janus." Looking up at the outpost, he smiles once again. "Come. We should find a way to help you out. At least the very least, get you settled in better accommodations."

"I really like the whole, helping me out idea."

"Yes, I'm sure you would. I do remember that Dr. Weir was quite eager to get back home, herself." Janus stops in front of a door and carefully places a hand on the door, causing it to open. "Please, come in. I'll go and prepare a guest room for you."

Stepping inside, Kimberley looks around. "Where are we?"

"My place. I hope you don't mind. I figured it would be easier this way. Unfortunately, I have to say not to get to comfortable."

"Why?"

"The Council is having a meeting in a few hours. I have to be there. I was also hoping to bring up your situation."

Kimberley just rolls her eyes at that statement. "Please. They wouldn't let you take Dr. Weir home. What makes you think that they'll let you take me home?"

"I'm hoping that the different circumstances will allow them to heavily decide in your favor."

"That would be good."

Janus does a quick sweep of the place and grabs a few crystals. Turning he grabs Kimberley's hand and says, "Come. We must hurry."

As he drags her out of his home she gets a questioning look on her face. "What? Why? I thought you said that the meeting isn't for a few more hours."

"It is wise to show up very early. It will make it a very great impression."

* * *

Janus walks out of the conferees room in a huff. "Those closed minded, stuck up, people!"

Kimberley quickly followed after Janus, trying to catch up with him. "I don't want to be mean, but I really hate to say, told you so. Anyways, I think you know what I'm getting at."

"I was really hoping that your arrival was different enough that they would be willing to help out this time." Stopping he looks off to the side, then sighs. "I forgot about the delegate's meeting."

"The what?"

"Please, just watch," Janus says, as he indicates.

Kimberley stood at Janus's side, as they watched the delegates of the Alliance walked past them. She was probably the first person to ever see them all together.

She was already surprised when the Asgard walked by. They were about as tall as her and they had more of a nose than what she was used to seeing. They still had a grayish tint to their skin as well as the fact they were bald.

Following behind them were definitely the Nox. She was amazed by the fact that they hadn't changed. They still even had that air about them that they were still passive.

She was amazed at the next group walked by. They looked like Ancients or Humans, expect for the fact that they were really tall. They were so tall that the shortest one was still taller than the tallest Ancient there. "Are those the Furlings?" Kimberley asks Janus.

He turns his head to look at her. "Yes, they are. I find it interesting that you used the same name that the Asgard use for them," he says to her, causing her to blush.

"I'm sorry. That's what we came to know them by. What do they call themselves? I can call them by that."

Janus turns back towards the group, as he shrugs. "We do not know, exactly. It's to hard to pronounce, so that's why the Asgard gave them that nickname."

"Oh!" she replies. Going into a deep thought, she didn't notice that some of the Furlings changed direction and headed their way.

She was brought out of her thoughts, when Janus said, "You Majesty. What can I owe this pleasure?"

Blinking, she looks up at a man with curly black hair and beard, with stunning green eyes. He smiles down at her, before turning towards Janus. "Nothing much, Janus. Just curious on some of your inventions and who this lovely lady is."

"Ah, yes. This is Kimberley Boyce. As I'm sure you have heard, she is from the future." Janus turns a little towards Kimberley and indicates towards the man. "This is Emperor Quetzalcoatl."

Being a little nervous and not knowing what to do around him, she smiles a little and gives off a small wave. "Hi."

"Hello," he responds, before he bends a little at the waist. He stops for a second and takes in a deep breath. Standing up, he gives her this questioning look.

"Sir?" Janus asks, confused on the look he just gave her.

"You do not only come from the future, do you?" Quetzalcoatl asks as he stares her down.

Fidgeting around, she manages to say, "No."

Smiling, so to calm her, he says, "I can tell. You have this air about you that smells of a Breacher."

"A what?"

"One that can move between realities."

"Oh!"

Janus looked back and forth between Kimberley and Quetzalcoatl, before he finally spoke up. "How is that possible. I thought-"

Quetzalcoatl interrupted Janus, before he could finish his sentence. "Usually that is true. I really don't see anyone from the future being Blessed."

Kimberley blinks then looks between Janus and Quetzalcoatl. "Okay, I'm confused."

Seeming to ignore that statement, he stares at her, as if to find the answer in her. "Hmmm, I wonder. Tell me child, is this your native reality?"

Shaking her head she says, "No. We actually visit this one. Well, actually we're living here now."

"We?" Quetzalcoatl questions.

"Ummmmm," Kimberley says as she bites at her lip. "My friend, Dara and me."

"How did your friend, Dare-Ra, and you stumble on to this reality?"

"Well, it first started off when another group of friends almost landed on us with there Puddle Jumper."

Quetzalcoatl looks over at Janus, giving him a questioning look. "She means one of our Gate Ships."

Nodding towards him, he makes a motion for her to continue on.

"Well, the next time something happened, somehow we ended up in their reality, being held by bad guys. Somehow we got back, don't know how exactly, but we did. The third is when another friend, Len, her sister made a Puddle Jumper and took us to see them. We pretty much started visiting them back and forth after that."

Quetzalcoatl places his hand on his chin and seems to go into a deep thought. Then after a minute he slowly asks, "When you say, their reality, you mean?"

"This one," she tries to casually reply.

"Hmmmmm," Quetzalcoatl says. Looking at Janus and Kimberley, he nods towards them. "If you'll excuse me. I really should go to that meeting."

"Yes, of coarse, your Majesty."

Janus and Kimberley watched as Emperor Quetzalcoatl turned and went into the conferees room. Sighing, Janus turns and looks at Kimberley. "Come. I believe we should go."

* * *

"Dara, will you wait up!" Rodney exclaimed as he tried to follow her down the corridor.

Sighing, Dara stops and turns towards Rodney. "Why?"

"I think you should talk about it."

"Talk about what?"

"About what happened to Kimberley."

Growling out, Dara turns back around and continues on down the hall. "Why would I want to talk about it. She died. Stuff like that happens. Not to mention I have a lot to do."

"Like what?"

"Gee! I don't know, Rodney. Maybe it has something to do with the fact, I have to get her stuff around, so that when Catherine okays the fact that Len can bring her Puddle Jumper through, I can send it home to her family!"

Rodney sighs a follows after her again. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but he knew she was hurting. He was almost exactly the same way when Carson died. It was about that time that they entered Dara's Common Room. "Dara, trust me on this. You're hurting. You should really talk to someone."

Without any warning, Dara turned on him and grabs his coat. "Who do you want me to talk to? Some mental quack! About how my feelings are hurt and I don't respond like a normal person when it comes to death or even to the fact it was my best friend's death."

Rodney flinches a little from the fact that she was getting scary and quit fast. "Look, I'm not saying you have to talk to a psychologist! I'm just talking about talking to someone, anyone. Hell, if you want you can talk to me."

Dara glared at him for a minute more, before she let him go. "I think you should go," she calmly replies.

Rodney could tell by the look on her face that was a very good idea. "I think I'll go, now."

As Rodney stepped out of the room, Dara sat down hard on the couch. She had managed to hold it in this long, but now it wouldn't stay down. Her head fell into her hand and she at least tried to keep the sobbing down to a minimum.

* * *

Kimberley sat on the couch in Janus's house. It had been a few days since the Council had denied her the chance to go back to her own time. Looking around, she was almost getting used to the fact that she was alone more than anything. Janus always found something to do and would take off to accomplish it. A lot of the stuff, she had no clue on what he was doing. Sometimes, she would swear that he was more secretive than Dara. She was actually surprised when Janus busted into his house, panting. "Come. We most go now!"

Blinking towards him, Kimberley looks at him with this confused look all over her face. "What do you mean? I'm so confused."

"Grab all your items. If I'm to accomplish to get you home, we need to move now."

Kimberley gets up in a hurry. Running into the guest room she was currently occupied, she begins to grab all her items. Grabbing her bag, she begins to shove all her items into it. Running out, she stops just in front of Janus. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

Janis grabs her hand and quickly leads her out of his house. As they ran, a thought struck her. Stopping, she yanks her hand out of Janus's hand. "Wait! What about my Puddle Jumper?"

"Don't worry. We are stopping by there. In order to get you out of here properly, you need to ride in your ship."

"Ride?" Shaking her head towards him, she says, "You know my Jumper is broken. It really can't lift off!"

"No, but it can land. I made sure that it could do that."

"Oh!" Kimberley takes Janus's hand again.

Janus leads her towards a patch of trees. As they broke through the underbrush, Kimberley was surprised to see a Puddle Jumper. He goes over and hits a button on the back of the ship, causing the hatch to open up. When she enters in the back of the Puddle Jumper with Janus, she noticed that it was quit different from the rest of them. Janus goes and sits down in the Captain's chair and turns towards the council.

Soon, they had everything ready and were taking off. Soon, they slowly landed next to the Puddle Jumper that Kimberley first came in. Quickly she gets out of Janus's Jumper and runs into hers. Quickly, she sits down in the Captain's Chair and sets up a radio between her Jumper and Janus's. "Okay, Janus. I've got everything up and running. What now?"

"Just strap in. I'll take care of everything from here."

"Okay," Kimberley replies. She grabs the straps and clicks them into place. "I'm ready."

"Good. Don't be alarmed if your ship shakes a little too much. I'm going to tow it along, behind me."

"Um, okay." Soon, Kimberley could feel the ship beginning to shake as it slowly got pulled up into the sky.

Once they reached the vastness of space, Janus speaks up over the radio. "Okay, I'm going to move through time. Thanks to some of the information in your ship, I was able to figure out when you belong. I probably be off a few days, but you'll be in your time."

Smiling, even though he couldn't see it, she says, "I don't care. I'm really glad you're doing this for me. I'm sure you'll get into loads of trouble."

"Don't worry about me. Thanks to you, I was able to become one of the Blessed."

"Blessed?"

"Someone outside the Furling race, that was gifted with Nanites in their blood."

"Oh! Is that a good thing?"

"Yes, very much so. Good luck, Kimberley."

"Thanks, Janus. I just wished I could pay you back someday."

"Maybe someday you will."

* * *

"Col. Carter, we have a reading of a ship in low orbit," Chuck says as he turns to look at her. "Ma'am, you may want to see this."

Col. Carter rushes toward Chuck to get a good look at what he was indicating to. Getting a good look, she mutters out, "Holy Hannah! Can't be!" She turns towards the closest tech and says, "Radio Col. Sheppard and Ms. Baldwin. Tell them the news and prepare the south pier."

The tech bobs his head at the command and says, "Yes, Ma'am."

* * *

Col. Sheppard, Dr. McKay, Ronon, Telya, Col. Carter, Carson, and Dara stood on the south pier as they watched as a Puddle Jumper shakily slams into the pier. Not even waiting for anyone to give the go ahead or to say it was safe, Dara runs towards the back of the Puddle Jumper and slams her hand on to the hatch button. Dara didn't wait for the hatch to open all the way, when she managed to squeeze her way through. She makes her way to the Captain's chair, where Kimberley laid with her head on the council. "KIMBERLEY!"

Kimberley jumps up in alarm and slams into the ground. Looking up at Dara, she smiles. "Heya!"

"God DAMN IT! Don't you 'Heya!' me! What the hell did you do and where have you been?"

"Ummm, no where."

"Don't you give me that crap! You hear me? You've been gone for three days! I thought you were dead!" Dara smacks her in her arm, before saying, "Don't you ever do that to me again." Then with that, Dara turns and walks out of the Puddle Jumper.


	16. Kimberley and Dara Meet Michael

"It's still weird though, innit?" Kimberley asked Dara as they walked around the stone structure.

"What is?" Dara asked, whirling the camera around to look at her friend.

"This." Kimberley waved her hand around in a sweeping gesture. "Off on another world, in a different galaxy-"

"Reality."

"What ever, with the crew from Atlantis." Kimberley finished with a high-pitched giggle.

Dara shut the camera off. "It this going to be like Google all over again?"  
o0o  
"Google?" Sam asked.

"No idea." Chuck commented as he pressed play again. "The girls have a little chat and then they hear the darts."

"Which is when Kimberley set the camera up near their things?" Evan pointedly asked.  
o0o  
"Hold on!"

"WILL YOU FORGET ABOUT THE CAMERA AND GET TO COVER?" John shouted to Kimberley, who placed the camera on a ledge facing the Stargate. "Baldwin!"

"Working on it!" the alternate American replied, grabbing Kimberley and dragging her towards the trees.  
o0o  
"And that's when the darts grab the girls." dam paused the video.

"Wait, can you back up a bit?" Mack asked.

Sam nodded to chuck who began to rewind.

"There." he pointed out, finger out stretched towards the activating Stargate.

"Kimberley wasn't just being a crazy fan girl; she got us a gate address." Stackhouse grinned as Chuck handed him a power bar.

Sam stared at them in shock. "What could you possibly bet on?"

"Kimberley doing something stupid that ends up saving their assess." Evan replied.  
o0o  
Inside the wraith hive ship Dara stood trying to find the best hole for her to fit through. Every so often, she would glance out of the corner of her eye to check that John hadn't strangled Kimberley yet.

Said man looked so out of his zone she was surprised no umpire man had popped up shouting 'out!"

"Kimberley, sit down." Ronon told her.

"Here." McKay handed her a bit of paper and a pen.

The youngest smiled at them, then put her head down and began writing.  
o0o  
Time had passed and Dara had just spotted the hole in the bars she could use, right at the top, when the group heard footsteps.

"Captains chair says it's a bad guy." john joked.

Dara rolled her eyes.

After a few tense seconds, Michael the wraith appeared at the cell. Casually he observed the group, and then frowned at Kimberley who was sitting stock still in the middle of the floor, the pen hanging lifelessly from her fingertips.

Motioning to one of his men, the door opened and they entered. Michael took the paper from her hands and scanned it, smirking lightly. "I did not know any one of your people could write wraith."

"I thought Boyce was just doodling?" john spoke a little too loudly.

Michael stepped closer to the female. Quickly he reached out and grabbed the female by the arm, and dug his nails in as he dragged her across the hallway.

"Hey!" she yelled and brought up her free hand, throwing it at him and clocking him on the side of his head.

Michael whirled around and used his other hand to graphically Kimberley by the throat.

Kimberley stared at Michael, annoyance clear in her eyes. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with eh?"

"Kimberley!" the group was shocked.

'I know I told her not to be friendly but that didn't mean she has to be suicidal.' Dara worried.

Michael observed Kimberley before lowering his hand. Kimberley looked around before her eyes locked onto his. Her eyes glazed over and she stepped towards Michael.

"What the hell?" Dara demanded, reaching out to grab her friends arm.

Michael cocked his head. "Step forward."

Kimberley followed the command.

Rodney looked freaked out. John looked jealous. 'Sure, she answers the wraith commands.'

Slowly his head moved back to the center, his intense stare at Kimberley never waiving.

Unblinkingly the female stepped towards Ronon. "Give me your knives."

'Maybe she's faking?' Dara though, and watched horrified as Ronon handed her three knives, and she shaking placed one a top her arm and cut deeply. "Kimberley!"

Kimberley stood stock still as Dara ran to her, knocking the knives from her. She remained standing as Dara slapped her face and shook her, stood still as Michael hybrids knocked them out and the dull pain in her arm began to set in.  
o0o  
The gate spun to life. Sam nodded to a gate tech that started the controls of the MALP.

The screen connected and came to life, showing a wraith hybrid about to shoot the expensive piece of technology.

There was a hive ship behind him.

Then the signal was lost.  
o0o  
Michael walked past Kimberleys open cell and watched as her eyes followed him, but her entire body did not move. Slowly he began advancing towards her, a needle in his hand. 'This is very strange. I wonder why I am able to control her mind.'

Carefully he inserted the needle, withdrawing some blood. Just as carefully he took it out and grasped Kimberleys arm, causing the blood flow to lessen and stop.

Kimberley winced and her body shook, but she did not say anything.  
o0o  
Rodney glanced at John as he came to. He watched as his friend groaned, then sat up, holding a hand to his head. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine, where are we?" John asked.

Rodney motioned for John to turn around.

The head of the group did so and frowned, "Are we in a cave? Where is Baldwin? And Ronon."

"Scouting the area." Rodney replied huffily.

"Where is Boyce?" John asked.

"Still on the hive." Ronon spoke as he and Dara entered the cave.

"We've found a weak spot near the back of the hive." Dara explained. "It's about ten minutes walk from here. And the gate is about a mile, I mean a klick away due south."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we ain't mounting a rescue mission." John jumped up and threw his hands out. "Don't know if you've noticed, but were kinda in need of rescuing ourselves."

"We ain't leaving her behind." Dara snapped.

"For now, it's our best option." John replied. "We Wait for dark then make a break for the gate."

"What, and then come back for her". Dara raises an eyebrow after a silence.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" John replied dismissively, watching Dara sit down on the floor for a quick power nap.

"Do I have to point out that Kimberley is in possession of a lot of knowledge, and somehow hypnosis by the wraith hybrid Michael?" Rodney pointed out.

Ronon rolled his eyes but nodded to Rodney.

"Looks like Boyce isn't the only one corrupting aliens." John murmured to Dara, starting to wake up from her really short power nap.

"Can we go?" Dara demanded, jumping up and grabbing her make shift weapons.

"Sure, who knows what information she is telling Michael." John replied, bumping into Dara as she stopped walking.  
o0o  
Shapes began to form into objects. Kimberley blinked rapidly trying to clear her head. Something knocked at the back her head and she turned around in circles trying to figure out where she was, where the others where?

A tall man with dark brown hair and blue eyes stepped towards her. His clothes were Wraith, a long sleeveless leather duster trailing to the ground, the lack of sleeves showing off his powerful and muscular arms.

He had an angular face and reminded Kimberley of James Masters. His mouth twitched into a smirk as he noticed she was eyeing him up and he stopped at her open cell.

They looked at each other and Kimberley felt that she was looking at someone she knew, was supposed to know, and should not know, all at the same time. 'I'm going nuts!'

In her still confused mind, Kimberley tried to think of who he reminded her, quickly drawing up the names of Dara, Ronon, Teyla and for some reason Woolsey.

"You look familiar." Kimberley spoke as she shook her head clear.

The man cocked his head slightly. "Have we met before?"

"Feels that way." Kimberley frowned, and then threw her hand up between them. "Hey I'm Kimberley."

"Nate." Nate replied, looking at her hand then shaking it.

Kimberley winced at his strength. "Strong grip."

"I'm a strong being." Nate smirked, still holding her hand tight. "I get that from my father."

"Oh! And whose yer dad?" Kimberley asked, her arm starting to buckle under the pressure. "Can you let go of my hand please?"

"She did say please." Michael appeared and placed a hand on Nates shoulder. "Let her go. Son."

"Tha-wha?" Kimberley asked, moving backwards, her back hitting the hive wall. "Wraith hybrid leader say what now?"

Michael smirked to her and then Kimberley saw black.  
o0o  
Dara raised her P90 and smirked as she shot the neck off a Wraith guard, grinning as Ronon took the other one out quickly.

'Add that to my tally.' She thought to herself, continuing through the Hive without a word. 'Maybe it was a good idea Kimberley moaned about non verbal communication.'

John made a hurry up motion and she flipped him the bird. 'But some things don't need to be taught.'  
o0o  
Slowly Kimberley came too, this time the images in front of her were easier to see. She saw the man that Michael claimed was his son, and then the Wraith hybrid himself, as she looked to the left.

She then looked down and gulped at the sight of a table underneath her, straps on her wrists and ankles. "Uh, hey, lemme go?"

"Humans are so funny father." Michaels supposed son replied.

"Can you repeat the bit where he's your son while you release me please?" Kimberley asked.

"This is my son, Nate." Michael repeated. "After Teyla refused to procreate with myself, I took matters into my own hands."

"Is he yours fully or a mix of other peeps?" Kimberley asked, looking between the two.

"I am intrigued she is still able to function while strapped to a table and about to be incubated." Nate stated.

'Incubated?' Kimberley blinked. 'Did I hear him right? Naa...?'

"Nate is perfection." Michael sneered at something from his memory. "He has been created by the pest pars of the firs team from Atlantis, and has included alternate DNA."

"Alternate DNA?" Alarm bells started ringing. "Who's Alternate DNA? How did you get it!"

"DNA has been cultivated from Col. Sheppard, Doctor McKay, Ronon Dex, Mister Richard Woolsey, Teyla." The way Michael caressed her name caused Kimberley to shiver. "Doctor Beckett and Miss Baldwin."

"Wait two questions." Kimberley tried to raise her hand, resulting in her fingers pointing upwards.

Michael nodded for her to continue.

"How did you get Daras DNA?" She asked. "And why didn't you use mine?"

"I received Miss Baldwin's DNA from a...unusual source." Michael grinned, causing Kimberley to blanch, spots dancing/appearing in her eyes. "And I only wanted strands of DNA that would enhance the subject's survival and intelligence."

"Oh burn!" Dara replied as she entered the room, gun trained on Nate. "What are we talking about?"

"Dara! He-"

"SILENCE!" Nate yelled, causing Kimberley to flinch. "How did you get back into the hive?"

An alarm sounded, followed by Ronons gun discharging outside the room.

"Love to stay for a chat, but gotta a ride coming soon." Dara explained as Rodney entered the room and paused for a second before going to a computer and freeing Kimberley.

"You will not survive getting off this ship!" Nate yelled at them.

Kimberley slid off the table and moved to cross the room when Nate grabbed her by her hair. Kimberley glared at him. "Survive this!"

Tilting her body, she brought her head back then slammed it forwards, causing Nate to let go and hold his head.

"Stop." Michael spoke quickly and Kimberley frowned as her legs paused in mid air, the lack of balance causing her to crash into Rodney.

John groaned and trained his gun on Michael, cursing in his head as she moved in front of his site.

"Lower your weapons or I will make her gut herself." Michael demanded as Kimberley picked up a scalpel and placed it on her stomach.

"Is it just me or does she look hypnotized?" John whispered behind Daras back.

Dara turned and grabbed his arm. "Help her!"

"How? If I go anywhere near her one of Michael's hybrids will shoot her!" John replied, and then looked down at her hands. "Or he'll make her gut herself."

"I have an idea." Ronon interrupted their moment. "McKay?"

"What?" Rodney looked dazed - although from Ronons statement or from crashing into Kimberley, he had no idea.

"C'mere." He motioned. "Sheppard hit the bogey."

"Hit the what? Who? HEY!" Dara asked then shouted as John threw himself on her, pressing a familiar red button.

She lifted her head to see Ronon grab Rodney and throw him into Michael's latest lackey.

Then she blinked as Kimberley whirled around and stuck the scalpel in Michaels arm, then carried on with her momentum to slam him on to a wall, then brought her leg up to smack him between his hips.

Michael 'oof'ed and bent down, allowing Kimberley to throw him sideways and onto the table.

"C'mon!" John shouted as he grabbed Dara, turning to look at Kimberley who was tying Michael up. "Boyce!"

"I'm coming!" She shouted, snatching the scalpel from his arm and cut him on his right arm once.

Dropping the knife, she spun on her heel and ran from the room, glancing back as Nate struggled to his feet and glared at her. Before she left, she paused and smirked at him.

"BOYCE!"

"COMING!"  
o0o  
The gate spun to life. John waited for the signal from Stargate command before nodded and motioning for the girls to go through.

He groaned as Kimberley paused at the lip of the event horizon and turned to look back at the smoking hive. "Move it Boyce!"

Her eyes flitted to his, then to a dart flying away from the hive under the beginning cover of the explosions and sighed. 'I guess this isn't over then.'

John watched as Dara pushed her through the gate, nodding to Rodney, Teyla and then Ronon as they walked quickly through the gate.  
o0o  
Sam watched as John returned thought the gate backwards, his P90 facing any enemy that was stupid enough to follow him through.

He waved his arm and Chuck shut down the gate.

"We're home!" Kimberley declared, and then fell to the ground in a dead faint.

Dara stepped towards her friend. "Is she okay?"

Jennifer Keller arrived on the scene and placed a hand on her neck, then did a double look at the blood on her clothes. "It looks like she just fainted."

"Oh, good." Dara replied before her eyes closed and her body slumped, John grabbing her at the last second.  
o0o  
Dara came to with Doctor Heightmyer in quiet talks with Kimberley, the younger female picking at her bandaged arm.

She watched as Heightmyer placed a hand on her shoulder before standing, and walked over to Col. Carter.

Dara was too far away to hear, but turned to her side and elbowed John, who sat up with a shout.

"It wasn't me!" He spoke quickly, and then blushed. "Hey! You're up!"

"Damn right I'm up, now help me over to Kimberley." Dara knew she had too many pieces of machinery connected to her to move without alerting someone that she was up.

John looked at the backs of the doctors, then to the glaring face of Dara Baldwin and picked his battles.  
o0o  
Kimberley was thinking about what Katie had said as she played with her bandage. She looked up as a feminine hand was placed on her fingers.

"You okay?" Dara asked.

Kimberley nodded without looking up, and stopped playing with the gauze long enough to wipe her tears away.

"Does she remember him being inside her head?" Dara heard John ask and rolled her eyes at his insensitivity.

"What?" He lifted his shoulders. "I have to ask! Is there any chance he could to it again? He did it twice."

"No he didn't." Kimberley coughed then replied. "The first time, yeah, that was him. All him."

"And the last time?" Jennifer asked.

"Was faked." Kimberley nodded, and then frowned. "Guys, we have a problem."

"What?" John wearily asked.

"Alternate future Michael spoke with this Michael." She replied quickly.

"What makes you say that?" Dara asked.

Kimberley wondered how to say it without freaking Dara out.

"Kimberley!"

"Alternate Michael sent your DNA over here and they had a chat." Kimberley ripped the imaginary bandage off.

John and Sam shared a horrified look as Kimberley looked down to her bandage as she could feel a few dozen of the glares and looks from the other members of the expedition. 'I don't know how many times I have to say it, but I'm sorry! But then again, nothing I do makes anything better, anyway.'

"Kimberley, are you all right?" She looked up and into the eyes of Carson.

Quickly she nodded, looking away as a chill swept through her.

His hands rested on her shoulders and she flinched away. The medicine man frowned. "Kimberley."

"Just leave aff, aye-ite Carson." She demanded, shuffling to look away from them all.

"It's nothing to be ashamed off." Carson walked around the other side of the bed, then the other as she turned around again. "Its natural to feel the way yer feeling."

"How the HELL do you know what I'm feeling?" She demanded, glaring up at him.

"I was held captive by the man for a year and a half." Carson pointed out.

Kimberley shook her head. "That's not what I-never mind."

"Kimberley, you have to talk to us love if we are going to help you." Carson spoke softly.

"It's nothing, just feeling sorry for myself as per the norm." She shrugged, and then smiled at him.

Carson looked to everyone else in the room as if to say 'you buying this?' "Look hen, you had Michael in yer head-"

"Yeah well feel more sorry for him then me, yeah." She interrupted him.

"It's bound to have an affect." He continued.

"And soes maa fist if ye dinnae watch it, right." Kimberley glared at him.

Carson blinked, quite shocked at her heavy accent. "Listen here hen, if yu don watch it a'll hive yu sectioned, ya hear me!"

"So wit? Dae ah look like a care?" She asked, throwing her arms out in a wide gesture. "Wit dae ye wannt me ae dae? Greet? Moan? Hive a break doon?"

"We want some kind ae emotion fae ye!" Carson replied, his own hands flying through the air.

"Anyone understand what they're saying?" Dara asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Ah hid him in ma heid!" Kimberley shouted, tears falling thick and fast. "He looked at ma darkist seekruts and brought em tae the surface, then he used em agenst me. He made me hurt ma self, and me was going to gut me like ah fish! He was gonnae kill me!"

Carson grabbed onto her as she sobbed, rocking backwards and forwards with her.

Dara went to run away but John grabbed her arm. "We've still got the debrief to do, if you're up for it."

"Well..."

"It's either that or stay in here."

"De brief it is!"


	17. Operation GCAKT

"So how long have you guys been here on Atlantis for now?" John asked Dara, taking a break from looking at the 3D map of Atlantis for the billionth time, trying to pin point weak points that may be used by enemies in the future.

"Almost a month." Dara replied casually, sitting back in her chair and stretching, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at John. "Why?"

"Well…what do you know about the betting pool?" He asked, leaning forward, grinning handsomely.

"Which one?" she returned.

"The one about a certain medic and his 'lovely lass'." Johns Scottish accent caused Daras lips to twitch in humor.

"About how long it would take them to get together, get down with the dirty, or admit that they like each other?"

John raised both his eyebrows. "Wow, there's that many?"

"Not much else to do on Atlantis." Dara shrugged her shoulders before picking up a pen and tapping a bit of paper.

"How many did you start?" John asked, leaning on the desk to try to look intimidating.

"The question is; how do you want to start winning your box of chocolates, ten pound of coffee beans and a month off laundry duty?" Dara returned, grinning inside as John smiled at her.

"Don't know if I've said it before Dara, but this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"  
o0o  
After hours of planning and pulling others into their plot, John and Dara had come up with the perfect plan.

If only they could get Rodney to stop complaining about it.  
o0o  
"There is no way Kimberley, who you guys have to remember has explained quite clearly has never had a boyfriend, will want to go out with Carson just because she has a crush on him!" Rodney waved his arms around. "I mean, she had a crush on me for how many years, and she never did anything to me."

"That's because of the dementia." Dara muttered to herself, shaking her head at Rodney's words.

"All we can do is set this up." Ronons voice of reason cut through any building arguments. "Kimberley's getting home sick, and Carson reminds her of home; it's something that will connect them. That and their physical attraction to each other don't hurt."

'When did Ronon get deep?' Dara asked herself, again shaking her head. 'He's been through this before, with Sedeta.'

"So everyone know the plan?" John asked.

"Plan for what?" Two voices added from separate doors.

'Doh!' Dara groaned, turning to look at Kimberley the same time as John turned to look at Carson.

"Operation G-KACT?" Carson read from one of the mission files.

"It stands for-"

"It doesn't matter what it stands for." Kimberley cut Rodney off, slapping a copy of the file down on the desk.

"Where did you get-"

"Doesn't matter." Kimberley shook her head, rage filling her. "Matters of the heart are not to be taken lightly, or into the hands of those who know not or are not the ones whose hearts will be on the chopping block. My love life, and Carson's, is our own. If you want to mess with anyone's, why not mess with your own."

Kimberley continued to glare at them as she pointed to pairs. "Ronon-Jennifer, Rodney-Katie, Dara-John."

Dara opened her mouth to reject her statement but closed it as Kimberley turned from the room and left quickly, the icy atmosphere still there.

"Well, that didn't work." Rodney muttered after a few minutes of silence.

"No, it bloody well did not." Carson growled, stalking away as he muttered to himself.  
o0o  
"We should apologies." John spoke quietly to Dara, who was sitting with him at lunch instead of Kimberley, who was nowhere to be found. "And how did she find out anyway?"

"She's the photocopier." Dara rolled her eyes, annoyed that she didn't think of that when she sent Rodney to copy the mission files. "And why should we? It's in their best interests if they get together."

"Or maybe you're just deflecting your own true feelings for a certain someone onto Kimberley and Carson to keep it a secret?" John guessed, plopping a plate of moist brownies onto her tray.

"Maybe." she replied, putting a bowl of blue jello onto his. "Do you think you can help me ask Ronon out? Never mind, look, we could spend all of eternity just talking, but to get somewhere we need to get those two to admit they like each other."

"We could always go with the tried and tested method." John suggested, placing his tray down and sitting across from her.

Dara raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Lock them in a closet." He replied, taking a bite of the stew. "Worked for Cadman and Kavanaugh."

Dara shivered but nodded nonetheless. "Got a specific one in mind?"

"One near the rec room you guys always use." John took a sip of his coffee and looked at her. "Wanna try it out together first?"

Dara rolled her eyes at his flirtation. "Can it Kirk, we've got a mission."

"Oui, oui mon captain." John spoke sarcastically, ducking to avoid the peas she threw at him.

Dara put her head down and began eating her own stew, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide the smile and blush forming on her face.  
o0o  
Kimberley sat in her room messing about with her data pad. When ever she thought of something that might be useful for Col. Carter to know, she would jot it down. So far, her list had three things, and one of them was 'creating Michael the hybrid was a bad idea.' Another was 'creating Michael the hybrid was a VERY bad idea.'

As her doorbell chimed, she looked up and frowned at it. Dara just barged in, and no one else really wanted to see her; they just called on the earpiece.

Standing up she kicked her legs out to get some feeling back in them. "Two seconds!"

Reaching her door she swiped her hand over the crystal and looked startled. "Er, hi Ronon. What's up?"

"You were supposed to be training with me ten minutes ago." He explained and entered her room.

'Come on in why don't you.' She thought to herself. 'Hey isn't that a little out of character for him?' "Do you need something Ronon?"

Ronon plopped himself on her bed and looked around. "Why didn't you turn up?"

Kimberley frowned at him and moved to grab her date diary. Turning to that days date, she looked at it and smiled to herself. "I'm not supposed to be training with you, that's Dara."

"No, Dara is off world with Beckett." Ronon replied. "Well, actually she's off world chaperoning Beckett and Alison Porter."

"Sedetan say what?" Kimberley fumbled with her book, grasping it before she dropped it. Her face fell. 'I guess I can't fight canon.' "Do you still want me to go to training?"

"You up for it? We're playing with the dummies." Ronon stood up and offered.

"Now Ronon, that's not a nice way to talk about the IOA." She replied.

"You coming?" He stood at her door and waited.

"Yeah." She agreed and grabbed her bag, snagging a pair of running shoes as she went.  
o0o  
Dara rolled her eyes as Porter and Carson danced about each other. So far all Porter had done was drone on and on about Carsons fabulous research, and how absolutely wonderful he was. She felt like smacking Porters head on the ground.

Repeatedly.

They were on one of the planets that the Iratus bugs had refused to lay eggs on, something that was highlighted several times in the Ancient database as important. Now Dara, and by extension John, were stuck babysitting Carson and the girl who fancied him.

'Too bad it's not the right girl.' John heard himself think, and mentally slapped himself. 'Keep with the program Sheppard! She's only here for a little time. Don't want her breaking Becketts' heart.'

Alison turned to Carson, a bone of an infant Iratus bug in one hand, gooey black blood in the other. "I'm really glad that we got this opportunity to work together, Carson."

Carson smiled a little unsurely at the way she sighed his name. "So am I Doctor Porter, you're work, with what little you've had to go on, it is truly astounding."

"Not as astoundingly wonderful as your work, Carson." She giggled. "And remember, call me Alison."

'Call me sick.' Dara rolled her eyes. 'I just hope this plan is working back home - jeez, who knew I would be calling Atlantis home after only a month?'  
o0o  
Back on Atlantis, Kimberley had changed into a pair of sweats and her trainers and was doing her warm up stretches. Ronon entered the gym with a backpack.

"Today, we're going to work on packing quickly." He nodded to her bag. "We are going to go for a run, have a short rest, unload the supplies and after a short period of time we are going to be attacked. You will need to pack your gear quickly."

"You want me to transferee everything into this one?" Kimberley asked.

"Which would you normally have off world?" Ronon replied.

Kimberley pointed to the backpack.

Ronon nodded.

And subtly checked the cameras could see how Kimberley packed her bag.  
o0o  
"We should probably head back camp." John commented as the sun began its descent.

"But we just go here! There are thousands of Iratus bugs graves, almost like it was a sentient predator that killed them." Porter declined.

"And that predator may come out at night to hunt." Dara pointed out. "Look, I hate to agree with Col. Sheppard-"

"Hey!"

"But it would be a smart choice to head back to camp." Dara finished, not even bothering to turn around and hit John.

"But-"

"Usually when the military tell you something, you agree with them hen." Carson gently chaste her. "They are the ones that end up saving our assess all the time."

"Isn't that the marines?" Dara pointed out, helping Carson gather his supplies.

"Technicalities dear." Carson shook his head.

"Hey, how about we head back to Atlantis, and come back in the morning with a puddle jumper and a few more scientists?" John offered. "It means we can cover more ground, it'll be warmer and the bones have been dead for years, they ain't going anywhere."

"I suppose. You are our commanding officer." Porter sulked.

"Awww, never mind her Johnny, she's just mad you kicked her bones is all." Dara grinned to John, who sulked.  
o0o  
Kimberley tried to calm her breathing as she and Ronon ran along the same path her, and millions of other Stargate Atlantis fans, had seen him and John run with ease.

Ronon slowed down and turned to Kimberley, watching her. "You alright?"

Kimberley nodded and motioned for him to keep going as they started their descent.  
o0o  
On the planet, Dara punched in the gate address, all the while imagining punching something else.

Porter and Carson stood between Dara and John, who was keeping an eye out for any trouble. "We almost there Baldwin?"

"Keep your gel in Sheppard." Dara rolled her eyes and selected the last chevron, waiting for it to load and the gate to engage before sending through her code. "Good to go, sir."

John turned and frowned at Dara. 'I don't like the tone of that sir.'  
o0o  
Ronon watched as Kimberley took a gulp of her canteen, letting the cold metal rest on her wrist and cool her body down before she looked up at him.

"Empty the stuff now?" She asked.

Ronon shook his head. "Wait till you get your breath back."

Kimberley nodded and, using the meditation techniques Teyla had been teaching them, began to calm down.

"This is Dara, coming back with Carson, Porter and Sheppard."

Ronon watched as Kimberley listened to the radio chatter.

"Any injuries?"

"No, everything went to canon."

Spots began to dance in front of Kimberleys eyes and she tried to blink them away, then speed up her reduced breathing before giving up and panicking, emptying the contents of her bag with one hand while she clutched her throat.

Ronon watched all this and began to worry as her face took on a rather red shade. "You alright?"

Her hand grasped a dark blue object and she brought it to her mouth, taking two deep puffs with it and wheezed a little powder exhaling as she did so. Her head nodded and her voice croaked. "Asthma attack."

"McKay goes on about those, you okay?" Ronon asked and stepped forward.

"I'll be-fine." He nodded as she did.

"Welcome back to Atlantis you four, when you're ready just head to the infirmary and get checked out, I'm assuming you have some things planned for this evening."

Kimberly closed her eyes and tried to think happy thoughts, before giving up and slapping her face, hard. 'Snap out of it!'

Ronon watched her cheek take on an unnaturally red color and her headshake before she took another calming breath, coughing slightly.

A high-pitched whine filled the corridor, causing her to look up. 'You have got to be kidding me!' "Wraith attack?"

Ronon nodded.

Kimberley sighed and quickly grabbed her things, shoving them back into the bag with no care of how they went before zipping it up and throwing it on her back. "Where to?"

"Just evade the Wraith until we get to your quarters." Ronon replied.

Kimberley nodded once more and took off running, Ronon a second behind her.  
o0o  
After running for another hour Ronon finally let her go back to her room, but only after he insisted the two spar for two minutes, which somehow turned into twenty.

Bruises upon bruises, her top completely drenched in sweat and a slight limp in her right leg were the only reason Kimberley knew she wasn't dead.

Walking instead of using those blasted transporters was a good idea at first, and then Kimberley began to realize how tired she was getting and how many awkward glances she was receiving.

'Walk ten more minutes or take a transporter?' She thought to herself and stood outside it.

Deciding not to tempt fate Kimberley continued walking, taking a more secluded route and avoiding the majority of the personnel that where exploring the city.  
o0o  
Carson handed the bottle of wine to John, who poured everyone a drink, except for Porter who shook her head and placed a hand over the glass.

"Oh no, I really shouldn't." She looked from John to Carson. "One drink and I'm anyone's."

'You don't need the drink with Carson.' Dara thought and, not for the first, fifth or hundredth time for that day, wondered if this was a good idea.

John cut his eyes to Dara and showed he had the same wonder.

"Ach, go on, it was such a peaceful mission where nothing went wrong, it deserves to be celebrated!" Carson encouraged, smiling at the young, pretty female.

"Okay then." She nodded and allowed John to pour her a drink. She sniffed it, smiled shyly at Carson, and then took a sip. "My, that is lovely wine."

No one had chance to reply as the door opened and Kimberley stepped in, walking half the length of the room before stopping, turning to stare at the group assembled.

"What the fuck?" She muttered to herself. 'That's it, I give up.'

"Kimberley, are you alright?" Carson asked and stood up, beginning to walk closer to her.

Dara jumper up also and ran to her friend. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine, I was training with Ro." She replied and tried to smile at her so-called friend.

John caught her look. "Even I'm not that bad when I train with Ronon."

"Fine!" She yelled and threw her hands in the air. "I went for a run with Ro, played some simulations, got my ass handed to me after a blue asthma attack and had to walk all the way over here from the friggen opposite end of the city because I hate those stupid transporters, only to come home and find Dara playing happy families with some new neighbors in the living room."

Everyone tried to process what she had said.

"Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go grab a shower then lie in a corner till nothing hurts." She snapped. "See ya in a month."

Carson realized what she had said. "You had an asthma attack? Come sit down-"

"No!" She yelled and he stopped walking. "Stay there. If I need anything, I'll call the CMO, kay."

Dara and John exchanged a look as Kimberley limped into her room, Carson watching her sadly and Porter finished the wine.

"Got another bottle?"  
o0o  
The following morning Dara kicked John out of her shared common room before the sun had risen.

"See ya later Johnny." Dara grinned to the hung over man before making her way over to Kimberleys room and knocked on the door.

Getting no response, she brought out her cell phone and dialed, frowning as she head it ring then it cut off.

Pressing her earpiece on she tried calling for Kimberley that way.

Again, getting no response she worked her techy magic and broke in, frowning as Kimberley was nowhere to be seen.  
o0o  
"Has anyone seen Kimberley?" Dara found herself asking in the mess hall.

Scott shook his head. "And she was supposed to be coming by for some cooking lessons."

"Kimberley, our Kimberley?" Dara looked at him as if he had knocked him self-out with an oven or six. "She who cooks cookers?"

"She's been trying to remedy it. Remember those brownies from yesterday?" Scott asked.

"Yeah..." Dara did not like where this was going.

"Kimbo made them." Scott grinned. "I think its all from a great teacher but-"

"Don't call her Kimbo." Dara cut him off and rolled her eyes. "She isn't some teenager. And since when have you two been so buddy buddy?"

"Since she got back from the supply run last week." Scott shrugged, and then frowned. "Well, actually, after she apologized about the Thanks Giving thing."

"Well if you see her, tell her I'm looking for her, okay?" Dara asked and left, not bothering with breakfast.

"Think she's preggers?" David Connoway, one of the glorified dishwashers asked as he came out with clean plates.

"Yeah, and Sheppard is the father." Scott rolled his eyes. "Get back to work!"  
o0o  
Rodney grumbled in the control room as he worked on a favor for his second least favorite alternate reality being.

"Hey Rodney, seen Kimberley?" Dara asked, causing him to freak.

"Gha!" He turned and glared at her. "Wear a bell will ya?"

Dara rolled her eyes. "Well?"

"This morning, when she demands I make this code before she got out." He replied and pointed to the data pad he was working with. "And if you will excuse me."

"Where did you see her?" Dara asked.

"In the infirmary." He mumbled as he rewrote a section to strengthen it.

"Why the hell was she in the infirmary?" Dara demanded.

"Still is." He replied off handedly, and then looked over at her. "I'm surprised you don't know."

"Don't know what?" She asked.

"Yeah, don't know what Rodney?" John asked as he appeared with two cups of imitation coffee, handing one to Rodney.

"Thanks." Dara nabbed the other one just to spite him.

"But you don't drink coffee!" John replied.

"Oh, yeah." She grinned and handed it back. "Now, what's this about Kimberley?"

"She went to the infirmary this morning complaining of chest pains and had a full blown red alert asthma attack in front of Jennifer." Rodney replied off handedly, turning around to look at them and frowned, as there was no one there. "Something I said?"  
o0o  
Dara paused as she flew into the infirmary doors, John hot on her heels. "Kimberley here?"

Jennifer smiled at them. "Yeah, she's fine now."

"What happened?" John found himself asking.

"I think she over did it with the training yesterday, and she said she received some kind of shock?" Jennifer replied. "I've ordered bed rest, no excitement for a few days and for her to be monitored for a while."

"We meant to bring her here in the first place." Dara explained.

"Oh." Jennifer glanced at her hands then looked at the room where Kimberley was resting, the door open enough to see her with an oxygen mask around her face to give her a little extra help. "Kimberley began to get pangs in her chest and after they didn't go away she came here."

"Was it just her asthma?" John asked, thinking that he and Dara may have had something to do with it.

"Well, she had been training extra with Ronon, and she said herself she had some upsetting news." Jennifer frowned. "Nothing dangerous to the expedition, or that I can share with you. To be honest I think there might be something else at work here."

"Why?" Dara asked the same time John asked. "Like what?"

"I asked her if she wanted me to contact anyone, such as your self Dara, and she told me there was no one she wanted to speak to on Atlantis." Jennifer began. "I offered to get Carson, which triggered another attack. This isn't normal, even Doctor Heightmyer agrees."

"Kimberleys in with a shrink?" John blinked.

"Kimberley was training to be a shrink, she doesn't need one." Dara rolled her eyes.

"They're going to fall out if you keep that up." John pointed out.

"Oh, and is that your medical opinion?" Dara asked, moving her head to glare at him.

John opened his mouth to speak but paused as Doctor Heightmyer exited the room, looking confused. "You alright doc?"

"Yes." Heightmyer smoothed her hair down a little then nodded. "Kimberley is, among other things, suffering from a type of shock coined as 'idolization crack shock'. Basically the person that she has admired has shown either their true colors or a way of living that is not what she had in her mind while she created fantasies about them."

"So it is our fault." John sighed, and pressed his earpiece. "Chuck, can you page Doctor Beckett to the infirmary please."

"What are you going to do?" Dara asked.

"Don't know yet." He replied. "But we're going to fix this mess."

'Awww man.' Dara whined in her head.  
o0o  
Inside Kimberleys infirmary room John, Jennifer and Heightmyer watched the interaction between Dara and Kimberley like a tennis match.

"I mean; what the hell!"

"We were only trying to help."

"Well don't try to make things worse - and did we ask you!"

"You weren't doing anything about it!"

"Because I'm only here for two years."

"And why should that stop you?"

"Hello Pot, I'm not the only Kettle in the room."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hmm, lets just say that wine wasn't the only apple you had last night, Eve."

Dara stared at Kimberley. "What?"

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "Seriously, just bolt Dara."

"No." Dara stepped forward. "Usually I would, but I'm fixing this."

"Uh hu, how?" Kimberley crossed her arms, face flushing as Carson walked in.

"Kimberley, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Oh, just peachy with a side of keen Doctor Depp, yourself?" She snarked.

Carson looked to everyone else in the room.

"You know what, next year I'm getting everyone Chinese finger traps for Christmas." Kimberley glared at the ceiling. "Because Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum can't keep themselves occupied."

"Alright, that's it." Dara found herself muttering before she grabbed Kimberleys bed, kicked the stoppers off the feet and wheeled it into a store cupboard. Turning to Carson, she caught his eyes. "Either you walk in of your own free will or-"

"You're not strong enough to get me in there." Carson pointed out.

"I am." Ronon spoke quietly and pushed off the wall, advancing towards the medic.

"Own steam it is then." He smiled and practically ran towards the storeroom.  
o0o  
"Let us out!"

"I'm getting claustrophobic!"

"I feel another asthma attack coming on!"

"Good things she's got her doctor in there eh?" Dara grinned to Ronon, who just looked down at her.

"Look, thurs no reason fur this! It's barbaric!"

"If you don't let me our I'm getting the biggest needle I can find and I'm gonne stick it in you!"

"Was that Kimberley or Carson?" Jennifer asked.

"Kimberley." John replied, wincing as something hit the door. "Definitely Kimberley."  
o0o  
An hour later, not hearing any screaming, pleading or heads being bashed, Dara unlocked the door, blinking at the sight of Carson and Kimberley sitting together with their hands clasped.

"Don't. Say. A. Word." Dara glared at Sheppard who just grinned.


	18. Drinking Night

"So we're agreed? Tonight?" Dara asks Ronon and Teyla, watching them nod. "You'll get the guys and some of your own, we'll supply the rest."

"Hey Dara, hi guys." John adds as he joins the conversation. "Have any of you seen Kimberley? Woolsey wanted a word with her."

"What's she done this time?" Dara frowned, wondering why he would ask. "She left for Earth about an hour ago."

"She did what?" Woolsey asked as he walked pasted the group, visibly annoyed. "I had some things I wanted her to pick up."

"Sorry Mister Woolsey, it completely slipped my mind." Kimberley answered as she joined everyone in the corridor.

"Uh, Boyce, where's the stuff?" John asked, looking around her.

"In the rec room." Kimberley frowned. "Radek and Lorne are putting the rest of the stuff in before everyone comes for their deliveries."

"He means the stuff for tonight." Dara explained.

"Oh, right. That's at my aunts." Kimberley nodded with a smile.

"We need it for tonight!" Rodney declared.

"Yeah, but I knew I would forget stuff from the list so I left most of it back home because I knew I would be going back." Kimberley explained, hands on her hips. "I do know what I'm doing; I've only been planning things for years!"

"But never on this scale! The amount of orders people have been giving you-"

"When I was 14 I used to help deal with more than a thousand quid of stock a week." Kimberley cut off Rodney, glare coming though. 'He is such a pain in the ass.' "I was going to ask if you wanted to come with and go to the new Apple store but I guess I'll just take Ronon with me."

"Kimberley, before you go, could you pick something up for me?" Woolsey asks after clearing his throat, handing her a piece of paper.

"Sure thing double-man." Kimberley agreed, passing the piece of paper, a notebook and pen to Rodney. "You want to come with, you help!"

Turning to the group she silently asks them if they want to come.

"I'll come." Dara agrees.

"I'll come too, keep you guys out of trouble." John adds.

"Uh, no offense John, but if you come along I can't guarantee everyone safety." Kimberley begins, shrinking into her self as the military man turns and glares at her. "You're just too well known in our universe."

"Reality." Dara mutters to her.

"Reality." Rodney barks. 'I'm sick to death of repeating this to her!' "Reality is the difference between your world, our world, and this so called 'Stargate Atlantis' world, Universe is like galaxy difference, such as Milky Way and Pegasus, and Dimension is like Heaven, Hell and Earth."

"Geez, sorry I forgot." Kimberley mumbled under her breath. "You can come if you want John, but it might attract too much attention."

"So we ready to go?" Kimberley asked, looking to Ronon, Rodney and Dara.

"Where is Carson?" Dara asks.

"At the house." Kimberley replied.

"YOU LEFT HIM ALONE!" Dara almost screamed.

"No, he's at my aunt's house." Kimberley frowned. "What's the malfunction?"

Dara slaps a hand to her forehead, muttering about her friend's stupidity, waiting for the penny to drop.

"OH!"

"Right, Rodney, get the gate address ready, Ronon grab a seat, Kimberley sit there and shut up." Dara orders.

"But-"

"Zip it."

With a huff, Kimberley sits on the bench, crossing her arms before grabbing the seat belt and attaching it like an X over her chest. 'Gotta love Catherine for making these jumpers a halleva lot more safe.'  


* * *

  
After exiting the Stargate the puddle jumper flew towards Kimberley's aunts house, turning into, from outside, the blue mini van form that it normally took when not Atlantis people could see it.

Expertly Dara stopped outside a two-story semi detached house and watched as Kimberley tore from the back, running up the path and slamming open the door.

Inside her aunt had a bunch of pictures sitting around Carson. "This is Kimberley when she had her first bath - she didn't want to come out of the water, bless her, she's always been a water baby, almost scared me to death once when she just jumped into the pool when we were on holiday."

"Aye." Carson replied, looking at the photo in interest, doing a double take at another one. "Whose she with?"

"Oh, that." Her aunt paused to draw a breath, exhaling sadly. "That was her first and only boyfriend; Kimberley lost all confidence in men at that time. And to think, now she has you!"

"Aunt Mags!" Kimberley shouted, face a flame. "Hey Carson, our rides here."

"It was lovely to meet you." Carson bid his farewells, standing up and shaking hands with Kimberley's godmother, nodding his head to her cousin who nodded back, still giving him a strange look.  
o0obreako0o  
Dara parked the puddle jumper next to the bingo hall, locking the piece of alien design but human technology as they left the parking area.

"So what do we need from this Tesco?" Rodney asks, looking disinterested around the shopping mall. 'Post office, got one of those, water fountain, meh, RC model shop- RC MODEL SHOP!'

"Booze, chips and dips." Kimberley replied, and then turned around to look at him. "Carson? Could you keep an eye on him?"

"Him who?" The Scottish male asked.

"Him who's running into the kids shop at a thousand light years a millisecond." Kimberley sighed, pointing towards Rodney who was salivating over the upgrades.

"Sure, I'll see you soon." Carson nodded.

"Here." Kimberley handed him her black mobile phone. "Call Daras number if there are any problems, it's under USA D and Ice SGA."

Carson nodded and Dara looked to Kimberley as they began walking away. "Do I even want to know?"

Kimberley shook her head "No, you don't."  


* * *

  
Ronon watched the people walking around the outside of the shopping centre dubiously, unconsciously wishing he had more clothes on at the stares the older females were giving him.

Dara watched as Kimberley grabbed a free trolley from its place in line.

Kimberley smiled to someone she knew as she pushed the trolley into the large building, steering to the left and walking down the book isle.

"Uh Kimberley, we're here for some booze." Dara points out.

"Yeah, but it's tradish." Kimberley replies, heading to the sale section of the books and selecting half a dozen titles, barely glancing at the prices before tossing them into the trolley, turning right at the end of the isle, then turning right again to walk up the stationary bit.

"Yeah, like EPSON is going to fit Atlantis computers." Dara rolls her eyes to herself, following Kimberley none the difference.

In her own little world, Kimberley walked down the isles, glancing at the prices of things, throwing random crap into the trolley.

Soon they made their way through the store, stopping every now and again for Kimberley to toss some stuff into the trolley.

At the crisps section Kimberley motioned for Ronon to step forward and he did, looking over the choices before quickly grabbing a bunch and tossing them into the trolley.

"I think that's enough!" Dara almost shouted as the pile began to reach taller than Ronon himself. "I don't think we'll need that much."

"Not like we'll be back soon." Kimberley argued.

"Not like we'll fit into our uniforms if we take all this with us." Dara shot back.

Sighing resolutely Kimberley nodded to Ronon who frowned before putting some packets back.

"We need space for the drink anyway." Dara tried to cheer him up.

"You Earthlings wouldn't know a proper drink if it bit you in your asses." Ronon replied.

"We don't all drink beer like John." Kimberley replied, walking to the end of the aisle and tossing three boxes of chocolate in the trolley. 'Hmm, might need a second trolley.'

"Hey what do you call those things?" Dara suddenly asks as they walked pasted the Family Planning isle.

"Uh, seriously?" Kimberley asks, doing a double take. "I think they're called the same thing no matter where you are."

"Well we usually call them shopping carts." Dara points out.

"Oh. OH!" Kimberley nods eagerly. "Okay, right, yeah, we call them trolleys."

"Okay, so trolley equals shopping carts." Dara places that reminder in her head, and then looks at her Scottish friend strangely. "What did you think I was talking about?"

"Er, that is, um - oh look, the booze!" Kimberley points and shoots off with the trolley.

"Kimberley? KIMBERLEY!" Dara shouts, glaring at her energetic and most of the time crazy friend.

"Okay, so we'll need Morgan's Spiced, some gin, whiskey, I suppose some breezers would be good too." Dara heard Kimberley saying as she turned the corner and spotted the two of them stacking bottles in the trolley, trying to fit as much as was physically possible and then some onto it. "Dara, should we get Vodka?"

"Damn skippy we should get Vodka!" Dara agreed, walking over to the Vodka section and staring at the selection.

Dara watching as Kimberley turned to Ronon, point to several different types of beer. Ronon looked at them before shrugging, picking up two crates and placing them in the trolley, adding more as time passed.

Kimberley nodded to herself, and looked to mentally check the list in her head. "Just juice to pick up now."

"Juice?" Dara asks, and then grins. "You mean pop?"

"Yeah." Kimberley nods her head, pushing the trolley up the isle, along two, and then turning left.

Turning from her spot at the middle of the soft juice isle Kimberley pointed to a few cases and Ronon sighs softly, grabbing them nonetheless and placing them in the trolley, which began to groan under its contents weight.

"Well either you lift it, or I try to." Kimberley pokes him in the side, causing the Sedetan to jump in surprise.

"Is there anything else that you need?" Dara asks, thinking of her own store and of the things that they had, trying to figure out of they need anything.

"I don't think the trolley could handle it." Kimberley shook her head, looking at the straining wheels of the silver trolley with blue handles. "Let's just get to the check out."

Kimberley stands behind the trolley and attempts to push it, frowning as it refuses to budge. Straightening up she places most of her weight on the top of it and tries to slide it across the floor, face turning red as it refuses to budge. "Anyone else think we've got too much?"

Ronon walks over to the trolley and, using one hand, pushes it with ease towards the checkouts.

Kimberley's face flushes again and she runs ahead of the trolley, getting Ronon to go in the right direction. Because of the time of day, they had to go right to the bottom of the store, and when Kimberley spotted who was serving them she groaned.

"Can we pick another checkout?" She asked, walking backwards.

"This is the only one open." Dara points out. "What's wrong with this one?"

"That's Vanessa." Kimberley nearly growls, causing Dara and Ronon to look at her.

"Used to be BFF, but secret stealing from you Vanessa?" Dara asks.

Kimberley nodded, tears of frustration coming to her eyes.

"Hey." Ronon says, letting go of the trolley, which veers into Daras leg.

"OW!"

Ronon looks to Dara, and once he notices that she's quite safe hobbling on one foot while holding the other, he turns his attention to Kimberley, pulling her into a hug, one arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "You only feel as bad as you let they make you feel."

"Thanks Ronon." Kimberley smiled and looked up at him, her body only backing away slightly from him.

"You ready to face her?" He asks, grabbing the trolley.

"I'm fine by the way!" Dara shot at them.

"Yeah." Kimberley nodded. 'I'm friends with loads more people, I live in a military/civilian operation in a world that doesn't technically exist and I'm getting paid to be a fan and remember loads of useless information - I am so much better than her bitching ass that only earns minimum wage and has two kids to two different dads!'

"Hi do you need help with-" Vanessa paused in her asking to look at Kimberley, Ronon and Dara. "Well, look what the cat pissed on."

"Now I'm not used to British store clerk-" "Scottish." "But her accent." "Right."

"ANYway!" Dara interrupted Kimberley's interruptions. "But you're not very polite."

"You two Americans?" Vanessa asked, and then gawked. "Bloody hell Kimbo, who knew you'd never grow up."

"What did you say?" Dara demanded, already calculating what damage her fist would do to the skank.

"Don't tell me you-never mind, I don't want anything to do with her." She rolled her eyes at Kimberley who tried to melt behind Ronon. "Oh my God! You're with Momosa look alike? What drugs is he on?"

"Excuse me, can you please ring up our items." Dara spoke quietly through thinned lips. 'She might just be having a bad day, she might just be having a bad day - she's going to be having a bad day if she doesn't watch it.'

"Yeah in a minute- whoa that's a lot of booze." Vanessa looked at the conveyer belt and did a double take. "Finally fell off the good girl band wagon and started acting like the rest of your alcoholic family?"

Kimberley blanched a little bit more and Ronon wondered if she was going to faint.

Dara finally had enough. "Can I speak with your manager?"

"What for?" Vanessa demanded.

"So I don't punch your friggen lights out." Dara stated, cracking her fists in a threatening manner.

"You can't threaten me!" She stated, already sitting up on the chair. 'Aha!' "Do you even have ID for this? You don't look old enough."

Kimberley fished through her bag, cursing silently she shifted through the crap before withdrawing her purse, flipping it open and grabbing her recent(ish) university card, flashing it at the girl who knew how old she was.

"Oh my god that is such a fake!" Vanessa nearly shouted, grabbing the card and inspecting it like a crown jewel obvious fake. "And I suppose you two have ID?"

Dara held her drivers license between two fingers.

"And you?" Vanessa turned to look at Ronon, a predatory smirk on her face.

"Do I look like I need ID?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Vanessa shivered and went to open her mouth.

"Just put the dammed items through the till!" Kimberley demanded, slamming her Tesco loyalty card down on the desk, a fake smile on her face. "There's a smell in here I would like to get away from."

The two friends turned enemies glared at each other before Vanessa handed back Kimberley's card and began checking through the items.

* * *

Ronon pushed the trolley as they left the shopping centre, goods well wrapped in case of any bumpages caused by the many shoppers or Wraith Hive ships on the way home.

As they neared the puddle jumper Kimberley began to laugh. Still giggling she pulled out her mobile phone and stared at it. 'Who the hell has this number?'

"Is it Carson?" Dara asks.

'CARSON!' Kimberley's eyes shoot open in realization, already turning around to go back to the store. "Carson, its Kimberley, what's up?"

Dara looks stuck between following Kimberley and getting the alcohol safely into the puddle jumper.

"What's the problem?"

Dara abandoned the booze, leaving Ronon to continue to the transportation by himself as she rushed to catch up with the surprisingly fast Kimberley.

"What's up?" Dara asked as she jumped the last step to catch the Glasgow born girl.

"Rodney took apart one of the controllers and couldn't put it back together again." Kimberley explained as they zigzagged through the half open automatic doors. "And they don't have the right kind of money."

'I am NOT explaining about the money thing again to her!' Dara thought to herself.

Kimberley rushed into the store; card already in her hand to be put into the reader. "I'm sorry, he has the mental age of a teenager, please accept my apologies, I'll pay for everything, I am so sorry!"

"Kimbo?" The guy at the cashier's desk asked, looking at her strangely.

"Allan?" Kimberley asked, looking at her old boyfriend in wonder. "When did you start working here?"

"When it opened last October. You know these guys?" Allan asked, pointing to Rodney and Carson.

"Yeah, I work with them." Kimberley nodded, and then motioned for the box from Rodney. "Thanks Rodders."

"Don't call me Rodders." The scientist muttered darkly, handing over the box regardless.

"Didn't your mom say you worked for the military?" Allen questioned as he took the box, his hand skirting across hers. "That's ￡15.95."

Kimberley turned and glared at Rodney who quickly grabbed the pieces and began shoving them into a wrapper. Turning to Allen, she smiled wearily. "Yeah, it's a joint thing between the British, French and Americans."

"Knew you'd get to America some day." He grinned. "So you gave up the idea of being a shrink?"

"She's a world renound Clinical Psychologist." Carson added, completely butting into the conversation.

"Can we go?" Rodney demanded from Dara, trying to walk away.

"Shh!" She hissed, pointing to the show in front of her. 'Damn I wish I had some popcorn.'

"And you are?" Allen raised an eyebrow.

"This is Carson." Kimberley introduced, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Carson, meet Allen. We used to-"

"Go out." Allen interrupted.

"And attend the same class." Kimberley finished.

"Nice to meet you." The Doctor replied, nodding his head.

"You too." Allen added dismissively. "So, Kimbo, what are you doing tonight? I figure we should get together for old times sake, maybe nip up to the Car Park in the Skye?"

Kimberley opened her mouth to respond.

"Kimberley, can't, she's already got plans with myself tonight." Carson answered, smiling cockily at the young man. "Shall we?"

"Sure." Kimberley agreed. "Bye Allan!"  


* * *

  
"Did you get the stuff for Woolsey?" Dara suddenly asked before they left.

"CRAP!" Kimberley swore, quickly taking off her seat belt. "I'll be back in twenty minutes."  


* * *

  
Twenty minutes later, true to her word, Kimberley entered the puddle jumper carrying two large suit holders and a busting bag of something. "Kay lets get this show on the road!"  


* * *

  
As the group arrived back in the Atlantis reality, Carson landed the puddle jumper, looking to his right to see Kimberley rooting through her bag, grinning as she pulled out a dark blue note book.

"So we've got juice, booze, wine, snacks, crisps, party awards, party games, party buckets."

"Party buckets?" Carson asked, turning to look at her.

"For when everyone starts to upchuck." Kimberley answered sweetly and he nodded.

Once they arrived back in the hallways of Atlantis the guys left the girls to take the alcohol to the rec room they were using.

"I'll meet you in our room." Kimberley waved to Dara as she left to meet with Mister Woolsey after they dropped the stuff off.

After walking aimlessly for several minutes, and swapping the bags in her hands twice, she stumbled upon a transporter. Kimberley paused as she looked for the right floor, then shrugged, closed her eyes and jabbed her finger.

Keeking her head out she smiled as she looked at the control room. Walking with a purpose, she stopped outside Woolsey's office and chapped his door, smiling to him as he answered. "Delivery for Mister Richard Woolsey!"

"Yes, thank you Kimberley. Please, come in." Woolsey motioned, waving her in.

"Hey John!" Kimberley grinned and tried to keep up beat.

"Kimberley." John replied. "We were just about finished anyway."

"Oh, don't leave on my account." Kimberley stepped deeper into the room.

"Thank you for picking these up Kimberley, I hope you didn't go too far out of your way." Woolsey thanked her again, accepting the two suits. "I trust everything was in order?"

"Yup!" Kimberley grinned and handed him the Tesco bag that was full of something.

John, being the lovable puppy like individual, peeked his head over the lip of the bag and frowned. "Why did you buy a bag of baby wipes?"

Woolsey blushed and frowned. "Because regular toilet paper hurts my ass."

John watched as Kimberley's face erupted red at Woolsey's statement.

"Well don't worry Woolsey, your months almost up." John replied, and then nodded to them both. "Gotta go, got some paper work to take care of."

"Your months almost up?" Kimberley asked, handing over his receipts. "You're only here for a month?"

"As you are not aware of the situation I will clarify." Woolsey bowed his head then motioned for the young female to take a seat. "The IOA have sent me here to evaluate everyone within this facility, most importantly those in command. Originally I had the time line of a day-"

"How the HFIL could you do it in a day?" Kimberley interrupted.

"Ahem." Woolsey stared at her until she sat down. "Once I realized the complex nature of the expedition, something that the IOA based on Earth could not see because of the issues and threats placed upon Atlantis, and the many different levels of those in command, I asked for an extension and received a month. This was almost four weeks ago."

"Oh my god!" Kimberley sat forward in her chair. "Then you have to hang with us tonight!"

"Excuse me?" Woolsey looked confused.

"A bunch of us, like team one, me, Dara, Lorne and Radek, are getting together for a little impromptu drinking party because we've been here for so long without getting killed." Kimberley explained in a rush, not pausing for breath as Woolsey struggled to keep up. "You should totally come with us and have a laugh before you head back to Earth."

Woolsey stared at her.

'Did I break him?' She wondered, and went to open her mouth.

Woolsey raised his hand to halt her speech. Slowly he lowered it and clasped them in front of his body, his face relaxing into a smile. "While I appreciate the invitation, I must decline at this moment in time to your 'impromptu drinking party'."

"Oh." Kimberley looked crestfallen.

"Is there anything else?" Woolsey asked, looking at his sheaf of paper.

"No." Kimberley shook her head. "I guess I'll go. Bye Mister Woolsey."

"Yes, good bye Miss Boyce." Woolsey replied dismissively, and then looked towards the door as it closed, a frown on his face.

He straightened his face as Kimberley poked her head back in. "Have a safe trip back home Mister Woolsey!"

Woolsey nodded to her, a small smile gracing his lips as she smiled at him then left.  


* * *

  
"So we're having a drinking fest tonight in our room." Kimberley spoke loudly to the chef.

"Right." Scott replied, looking at her strangely. "But I thought we were hanging out together and having a drink next Tuesday?"

"Yeah, this is just like me and Dara, John and Carson, Rodney and Ronon, Teyla and Jennifer and Lorne and Zelenka." Kimberley shrugged, and held out a mysterious package that said vanilla beans. "Is there any chance you could whip something up for us?"

Scott grabbed the bribery from her hands and looked torn between grabbing her and kissing her, or running to his crème Brule and adding it in. "I'll see what I can do Kimbo, and thanks."

"You're welcome Scott." She returned his hug and then watched him sprint towards a bubbling pot. "See ya later!"

When Scott turned around to say good-bye he frowned at her lack of presence, then grinned at the medium sized glass container sitting on his clean worktop. Picking it up he inspected the label of 'Saffron' and gave it an experimental sniff, his grin changing from happy to ecstatic.  


* * *

  
"So what are you wearing?" Kimberley asks Dara as the girls sat in their common room, the former trying to paint her toenails.

"This?" Dara asks, looking down at her plain purple top and dark jeans then narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Why?"

"Nothing, I just thought, I dunno." Kimberley trailed off, suddenly deeply interested in her cuticles.

"Kimberley?" Dara questioned.

The Scottish (and slightly demented) one looked up and half smiled to her friend. "Well, I was thinking aboutmakingamoveonCarson."

"The only word I caught was Carson." Dara shook her head, sitting down opposite her friend, slouching down on the couch.

Kimberley blushed and sat back, wiggling her toes to make them dry faster. "I said, I was thinking about making a move on Carson."

Dara frowned at her friend. "So, what does that have to do with me dressing up?"

"If I turn up to the nines, and you don't, then he will know I'm up to something." Kimberley rolled her eyes and started to apply nail varnish to her hands.

"What about Jennifer and Teyla? And isn't that the point?" Dara asked, grabbing the varnish and replacing it with a softer color.

"Ta, already told them." Kimberley smiled.

"And you're telling me last?" Dara demanded, sitting up straight.

"Would you have agreed?" challenged Kimberley.

"But now everyone else will look all done up and I'll look meh, like normal!" Dara nearly shouted.

"You don't always look meh." Kimberley denied, and then looked thoughtful. "But if you wore the light blue tank top and the pencil skirt?"

"No skirt!" Dara threw her hands out, and then looked closely at her friend. "You looked through my closet?"

"You're stuff got mixed up with mine!" Kimberley defended. "What about jeans then, and the boots you got for Christmas, they're still in their box."

Dara looked at her alternate reality buddy. 'Some times I think she truly is hiding another person underneath her skin.'

"Then you can try and get John!"

'And then she goes and says something like that.'  


* * *

  
"Hey Radek?" Radek tilted his head as the parties organizer spoke into his ear.

"Yes, Kimberley." He replied.

"How are things looking down your end?" She asked.

"They are progressing very well. Should you not be getting ready?" The loveable Czech asked.

"Yeah, just out the shower but wanted to ask if Scott had arrived with the munchies yet?" Zelenka could hear the girl's bathroom door swish open.

"Chef Rotella has already dropped off the provisions for tonight's festivities." Radek spoke distractedly as he moved some breakables from their spots.

"Kay, and everything's set? You're all dolled up?" Kimberley continued speaking as he wandered around the room.

"Yes." He rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath at the continuousness of the prattle of the alien girl. "Kimberley, I need to shut off communication capabilities for this room."

"Kay." Radek could see her nodding at him. "See you soon Radek!"  


* * *

  
Jennifer Keller smiled to Rodney as they meet outside the observation deck on the southwest pier. Self-consciously she ducked her head and let her curly hair cover her face as she looked down at her dark green, polite cut dress that stopped just above her knees. "Hi Rodney."

"Oh, h-hi Jennifer. Wow you look green, I mean, Christmassy- I mean nice!" Rodney babbled, smiling unsurely at her. "How are you?"

"Fine, you?" She asked.

"I could complain but- er, I'm good." He changed his mind, and then motioned for the still closed doors. "Shall we?"

Jennifer smiled at him but remained still.

Rodney opened the door by pressing his hand to the crystal, and then motioned for her to enter first.

Jennifer's unsure smile blossomed into a full force mega watt smile. "Thank you Rodney."

'YES!' Rodney thought to himself as he walked in behind her, secretly checking out her ass.

"Evan, Radek, nice to see you." Jennifer spoke quickly and waved to the airman and scientist.

"Doctor Keller." The men replied in sync.

"Call me Jennifer." She ordered and looked around. "We the first ones here?"

"Ronons in the bathroom." Lorne explained and handed her a glass of something sparkly. "Champaign from the girls for surviving."

"The Wraith?" Rodney and Jennifer asked.

"No, Rodney and John." Lorne grinned.

"Hey!" John added to Rodney's exclamation as he entered the room, wearing his normal black party shirt, his hair messily done. "I resemble that remark!"

Zelenka watched the group as they began to interact, noting the way John and Rodney clustered together while Jennifer chose to stand closer to the wall.

The door swished open to reveal Carson, wearing a light blue shirt and dark jeans. "Hullo."

"Hey Carson." Everyone chimed in, and slowly they began to chat amongst them selves.

Ronon exited the bathrooms and sat down on one of the couches, but bent over and picked up a bowl of Chex Mix before settling back and watching everyone.

"Anyone seen the gurls?" Carson asked, looking around.

"Dara and Kimberley said they would be here by nine." Lorne told him, and then checked his watch. "So they should be here any second."

"No chance." Ronon stated through a mouth full of mix.

"What makes you say that?" John asked, snagging a beer from the pyramid to the side.

"Last time I spoke with Kimberley she was trying to 'girlify' - her word - Dara." The Sedetan answered.

The door swished open and everyone turned, staring at Teyla. Teyla raised an eyebrow as no one said anything. "Where you expecting someone else?"  


* * *

  
"Have you seen my earrings?"

"Did you look in your jewelry box?"

"Have you seen my high heels?"

"Did you look in their box in your closet?"

"Have you seen my make up stuff?"

"Did you look in in your going out bag?"

Dara paused, waiting with baited breath as Kimberley came out of her room, still wearing a blue towel wrapped around her head, pyjamas still on her body. Glancing at the clock, she frowned. "We need to leave in ten minutes-what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Kimberley asked, looking down at her clothes in wonder.

"You're face, it's so pale." Dara looked aghast.

"My face? Oh right, I don't have make up on." Kimberley smiled.

"But you never wear make up anyway." Dara continued to frown. "Are you sick?"

"No!" Kimberley denied.

The older of the two looked concerned, and not for one second convinced, before nodding. "If you're not out here looking fabulous and healthy in nine minutes, I'm canceling the night."

Without another word, Kimberley ran from her spot into the bathroom, closing the door sharply.  


* * *

  
Dara continued to glance at her watch, well aware that they were going to be the last ones at the party. With a sigh, she began to walk towards the bathroom, pausing as she heard it unlock.

Dara watched as Kimberley walked out of the bathroom wearing ridiculously high heels. "How can you walk in those things?"

"Like this?" Kimberley tried to raise an eyebrow and stalked forward fast, crossing the room and sitting down on the couch with ease.

Dara stared. 'Damn!' "How the hell can you do that? If I just look at heels I fall over!"

"Years of practice." Kimberley replied, moving her hands to re-shed her hair.

Kimberley brushed her hands over her dark brown hair, moving the shed to the side so that it left one of her ears almost always exposed, showing off her purple rose earrings. Her hands moved to check the matching necklace was laid out straight across her collarbone before playing with her black low cut top. "Do I look to over the top?"

Shaking her head Dara couldn't reply. 'She looks older than me! Well, anyone looks older than me, but still, she looks...mature!' "No the make ups nice, natural tones. Why all the purple though?"

Kimberley could feel herself blush, but thanks to the make up no one could see it. "It's a Scottish thing."

"Are you wearing a skirt?" Dara suddenly pointed out.

Kimberley nods. "Is it okay or?"

"No its fine, wait, stand up." Dara orders, then grimaces. 'How to say this nicely?'

"Should I stick to trousers?" Kimberley read her face.

"Er, yeah." Dara nodded, and then smiled gently. "Although the rest of you looks fab!"

"Great, I'll go change and then we'll get your outfit sorted." Kimberley spun away before Dara could say anything.

'Dammit!'  


* * *

  
Dara tugged at her spaghetti strap tank top. It was the simple black one, with the actual girl black jeans. It had taken them a few minutes, but they finally agreed on what outfit Dara should wear.

"Stop picking at it," Kimberley says as she slaps Dara's hand down.

"I'm sorry! It feels like it's falling down."

"It's not falling down. It will only do that if you keep picking at it and you stretch it out."

"Fine," Dara huffs as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Soon they arrived at the door where they all decided to meet. As the door swishes open, John looks up from his beer and notices Kimberley, then Dara walks in. "Don't you look pretty," John says with a smirk, towards Dara.

"Shut up, Sheppard," Dara says as she rolls her eyes. She makes her way to a free chair and flops down into it.

John just smiles one more time over at Dara, takes a sip of beer, finds his own seat, and sits down.  


* * *

  
Kimberley watched the exchange between John and Dara. Smiling at the ceiling, she gave a small giggle and walked to the group of tables, taking a beer from underneath the largest one and a bottle of non-alcoholic wine.

"No drinkin hen?" Carson asked, causing her to jump.

"Gah!" Turning she glared at him, then blushed at his obvious look at her outfit. "Eh, hi Carson. No, not getting into the booze jist yet. How are you?"

"I'm fine, yourself?" Carson smiled, reaching beside her to pick up a glass of Whiskey. "Excuse me."

"Still breathing." Kimberley joked, twisting the cap off the wine and sniffing it experimentally.

"Much of a wine drinker?" He queried, resting on the back of the couch.

Kimberley shook her head. "More of a Morgan's type."

"Ah, so that's why there's one kept in the mini fridge." Carson caught her.

"So how's work?" Kimberley diverted, moving to stand with her back to the wall, leaning on it and trying not to think too hard on saying what was on her mind.

"Good, Jinto should be out of the infirmary by Tuesday." Carson smiled.

"You'd thinking he would have known what poison ivy looked like." Kimberley giggled.

"Well, look at how many times Rodney's had it." Carson pointed out and Kimberley giggling increased.  


* * *

  
Ronon moved to sit beside Dara, handing her two drinks. "Now this is a drink."

"What is it?" Dara asked, sniffing it experimentally.

"Sedetan version of Moon Shine." He grinned, swaying gently in a non-existent wind.

"Okay, hand it over." 'I've had the worst couple months of my life; I'm so getting shit faced.' Dara grinned and downed the shot, holding her breath to not cough at the kickback she received.

"Well?" Ronon asked, already downing his second one in this sitting.

"If I wanna get shit faced, I'm coming to you!" The Earthling grinned and down her second, this time prepared for the kickback and belched into it. "Got anymore - ohohohoh! I got you something!"

Ronon raised an eyebrow as Dara suddenly slid off the seat and onto the floor, reaching under the table and brought out a brown bag. 'It's not that strong, usually.'

"This." She waved the bottle around. "Is the strongest drink on Earth. Well, the legalist strongest drink, anyway."

"What's it called?" Ronon asked, reaching over to take the bag from the woman still on the floor.

"Everclear."

"Sound like a weak drink."

Dara baulked at him before screeching. "It's like nearly 190 proof!"

"Yeah, to you humans." He moved to uncork it.

"Wait!" Daras hand shot out and slapped his hand away. "Drink it later!"

Ronon looked at her, and then nodded. "I gotta piss."

Dara nodded and waited until he stepped over her before sitting on the couch, where something began to tap her on the head.

Before she had chance to turn around and hit the person it tapped again and again and again before John reached up and grabbed the bottle from someone's hand.

"Thanks." Dara replied accepting the drink, holding it in the air for John to un lid.

"No problem." John returned, smiling at her softly. "So...how was earth?"

Dara grinned.

"Interesting?" He guessed.

"Well..." Dara paused weighing up how much she should tell him. "Kimberley's aunt was showing Carson her baby pictures when we first got there."

"No way." John denied, and then sat forward, beer almost forgotten. "Any proof?"

"She gave him a photo album!"

"Why would Kimberley do that?"

"No her aunt did." Dara shook her head, raising the glass bottle to her lips and downing the neck. "Then we had to split up because, er, because Carson wanted to go into this store and Rodney went with him."

"So what did you guys do?" He asked, slowly raising the bottle to his lips, but not drinking as Dara continued her tale.

"We went into the store, Tesco, kinda like Wal*Mart but weird." She made a face as she drank a bit too much. "But then we bumped into this girl that Kimberley knew from pre-A and-"

"Don't you mean Pre-K?" John interrupted, downing his beer and taking her empty bottle, handing her a fresh one, the cap already off.

"No, pre-Atlantis. Before we met." She elaborated. "Basically she shot the girl down, before I punched the stuck up bitch."

"Did something happen at the store Carson and Rodney were in?" He asked, drinking half his bottle quickly.

"'Did something'- I thought Carson was going to duel for her hand!" She whispered to him, leaning in closer.

John took a secret deep breath, smiling at the girly scent that was surrounding Dara. "What happened?"

"Basically she bumped into her last ex and Carson, got, jealous!" She whispered as she sang, suddenly aware of the couple standing behind her.

Turning her ear Dara tried to listen into their conversation.

"So wen wiz e lst tme ye saw em?" Carson asked Kimberley, trying to be nonchalant about their discussion.

"Uh, 'bout fur munths ago." Kimberley Bit her lip and looked at the glass in her hand.

"Whiskey?" Carson offered his glass.

"Sure." Kimberley agreed and he poured her four fingers. Taking a tentative sip she coughed, but smiled at him.

"Ye dinnae ken the latest fitbaw scorez dae ye?" Carson asked, sipping his drink.

"Wit, ye didny loke?" Kimberley demanded, almost spilling the drink. "Mighty Gers winnin tree nowt! Cellik goat a rite thrashing."

"Bout time, when wiz e last time we one there?" Carson continued, subtly walking towards the balcony doors.

"Last year." Kimberley smiled. "I wiz it e game! Was pure mental brilliant! You should hiv seen Nakerd Motas face when he pit in a oan goal!"

"Yer kiddin. Martin O'Neill signed him?" Carson was shocked.

Kimberley looked at him like he had spiked his medication. "E wiz lke fur year ago or summat. Jeez Car, yu gotta reid the news letta sum mare. Neil Lennon tok aer last xmas, after Gordin Strchin pulled a Paul Le Groan oan em. Aan we wan the cup!

Carson contemplated this information while Kimberley finished her whiskey, and moved towards the mixing bar in the middle of the room making herself a weak Morgan's Spiced with blackcurrant and lemonade, before smiling at Carson and heading towards the balcony and outside for some peace and quiet.

Dara leans back and blinks at the two Johns - and sees John and Ronon. "Okay, I must be pretty drunk because I could have sworn they were talking gibberish!"

"Not drunk enough." Ronon grinned and handed her another Sedetan shot.  


* * *

  
Radek perused the selection of music, choosing the latest offerings from the girl's world. As he finished putting the 'Top 40 singles' into the battery operated CD player that was hooked up to the speakers within the room a glass of amber liquid came into his line of vision. Glancing up he saw the hand of Major Lorne holding it out to him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome doc." Lorne smiled as he handed it over. "Figure if anyone deserves a drink in here its you."

"Hmm?" The Czech asked.

"We may battle with the Wraith outside the city, but you put up with the worst enemy of all." Lorne paused to take a pull of his beer. "Rodney McKay."

"Someone say my name?" Rodney asked as the two men laughed.  


* * *

  
Outside in the cool air stars twinkled as the inhabitants of the city of Atlantis, many of them sleeping, some of them panicking, and a select few celebrating surviving in this tough galaxy.

The stars look down on two Scottish individuals as they walk towards the farthest end of the balcony, away from the noise and just starting music.

Carson turned his head slightly to look at the female he was walking with, wondering how to strike up a conversation when they were away from others to either help or hinder their relationship.

Kimberley stared halfway to the ground, halfway a head as she tried not to trip up, or embarrass herself in front of Carson. 'I would just die if I tripped up!'

Quickly they found themselves as the furthest point of the balcony. Kimberley walked towards the railing and sat with her back to the wall, her balance kept by her crossed legs. 'Thank God Dara made me change out fits.'

Carson leaned against the railing, his back to the ocean. The music from inside was quite good, but strange. "I wonder who that is."

"Lady Gaga." Kimberley replied almost instantly. "Bad Romance? It's about prostitution."

"How do you know that?" He asked, more shocked over her authoritative voice than her words.

"'I want your ugly, I want your diseased, I want you everything as long as it's free, I want your love...'" Kimberley trailed off at his confused look. 'Duh! He's been living in Atlantis for the past forever!'

Without pausing, she downed the rest of her drink and swung her legs over the side of the railing, placing the cup on the ground before stalking towards Carson, singing along with the music.

"I want your drama, the touch of your hand. I want your leather studded kiss in the sand I want your love." She leaned over him, showing off her cleavage and grinning suggestively towards him. "Love, love, love I want your love."

"Ahem, Kimberley, I- er." Carson was too flustered to put words together.

"Don't worry Carson, that's just the dance to the song." She smiled. 'If I was trying to seduce you we'd both know about it.' "Was there a specific reason why you wanted to come out here?"

"Just for some time alone, I feel like I hardly get to talk with you anymore." Carson explained, his face returning to a normal color.

"Hey, you're busy off world; I'm busy trying not to cause too much mayhem just by being here." Kimberley trailed off, turning to look at the sea. "I love being here, at Atlantis I mean. I know about a thousand other people who wish they could be here, but instead of them, I am."

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried not to think about the true reason why she was there.

Carson frowned slightly at her choice of words but nodded, a smile soon gracing his rouge face. "How has you're meetings with Mister Woolsey going?"

"They're going." Kimberley laughed, leaning against the railing and smiling at him. "We've pretty much gone through everything I know, and Daras turns next. You know what that means!"

"I've got you to patch up instead of her?" Carson frowned fully.

"I'm not that accident prone!" Kimberley denied.

Carson merely raised an eyebrow.

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "Although, that's if Woolsey actually stick with his plan. He may be like Col. Carter and just pick us at random. I wonder why he always asks me to go to his office? I know I confuse him and don't know as much as Dara..."

She sighed, then shivered.

"Cold?" He asked, slipping off his jacket and handing to her.

"Thanks." Kimberley replied, taking the jacket and sitting it on her shoulders. "Actually just thinking about going on a mission with both John and Rodney."

"Good thing the Daedalus is taking a faster route." He joked and Kimberley joined him.

They stood outside for a few minutes more before chants of 'drink, drink, drink, drink!' came from inside.

"Shall we head inside?" The medic asked, pondering who was going to get alcohol poisoning first, walking arm and arm with his lass after she nodded.  


* * *

  
John stared at Ronon as he chugged down the yard pint of beer. "Where the hell did he get that from?"

"The German Botanist Michael." Rodney explained, handing John a fresh beer.

"Thanks." John nodded, taking a sip of the cold drink before standing closer to his friend and teammate. "So how are things going between you and Keller?"

"They're, going." Rodney replied, trying to look without looking over his shoulder at the young doctor, who smiled at him and waved her hand before resuming talking with Teyla.

"Still not asked her out?" John summarized.

"How can I?" Rodney suddenly demanded, turning to look at his friend. "I'm me and she's, she's - Jennifer is just the polar opposite of me."

"Except she takes time to listen to you." John pointed out; drinking from his beer and glancing quickly to where Dara had came stumbling out of the bathroom. "Some times you've just gotta grab life by the horns Rodney, you never know when a Wraith is going to suck you dry."

"That isn't how the metaphor goes." Rodney deflected.

"This isn't how life usually goes but ho well." John grinned. "Look Rodney, take some advice from a guy whose done it all, going out, marriage, divorcing-"

"You were married?" Rodney looked shocked. "Poor woman."

"Anyway!" John glared, downing the rest of his drink. "Just go for it McKay, you never know how long she's going to wait on you."

Rodney looked at the main topic of their discussion, then to his drink, before nodding. "But tomorrow, I don't want to talk to her when I'll say something I'll regret."

"Just talk to her McKay, and don't chicken out." John pleaded, walking towards the dwindling beer pyramid to grab another one.

"I'm the head scientist, not some piece of poultry!" Rodney glowered.  


* * *

  
The beat of the music soothed Teyla's mind as she carefully sipped the drink Kimberley had handed her before she had left with Carson. As she glanced around the room Teyla spotted Dara stumbling towards Ronon, and quickly looked to John, whose face was slightly red, from either the beer or his annoyance with Dara spending so much time will Ronon she did not know, not want to speculate.

With a sigh she looked to her right, and smiled as she spotted Kimberley and Carson chatting outside, his coat on her shoulders.

'Why are Earth girls so...slow in acknowledging their feelings towards their men?' Teyla thought to herself, spotting Rodney trying to watch Jennifer without being spotted, the two of them blushing at being caught looking at the other.

"Teyla!"

The Athosian turned her head to see Dara closing in on her. Having no time to escape she placed a smile on her face and nodded to the slightly inhibited female. "Dara, how are you?"

"I'm buzzin'!" Dara replied, sitting down with a thump on the couch. "How are you?"

"I am well." Teyla smiled unsurely. "How much have you drunk?"

"NOT ENOUGH!" Ronon shouted from the opposite side of the room.

"Bout six beers, four Everclears, a bunch of shots that Kim brought, the red ones were the besht! A few of those Athosian beers you brought." Dara paused to think. "And some of Daleks home brew."

"You mean Doctor Radek?" Teyla raised an eyebrow.

"Doctor Who!" Dara cackled, slapping her hands onto her knees and spilling some of her drink. "Radek is a Dalek!"

"Dara, I think you have had enough to drink." Teyla spoke quickly and tried to take the glass from her hand.

"She's not even had half of what I've had." Ronon appeared beside her to say.

"But dude, you drink like a Viking!" Dara pointed to him and gaped. "When'd you get so tall?"

"Thanks?" Ronon asked, and then grabbed a passing Lorne. "Pssst! What's a Viking?"

"Uh, its, eh." Lorne tried to think, then shook his head several times. "They were originally Scandinavian I think, they went around the planet and plundered cities and villages for the worth, taking the women and live stock, and drank the towns dry before burning them to the ground."

"I only understood two words." Ronon replied, and grinned, slapping his hand on Lorne's shoulder, causing him to stumble forward but his hand stopped him going far. "C'mon drink with me!"

Lorne looked to Teyla for some help.

"Actually, I had hoped that Major Lorne would get us a fresh round of drinks." Teyla threw out a lifeline.

"I'll get right on that!" Lorne grabbed it, quickly stepping away from Ronon.

"Naa, I've got more than enough here." Ronon grabbed him in a one-arm hug, using his other to open his jacket and reveal several bottles strapped to his chest. "Pick a color!"  


* * *

  
Once everyone was gathered in the room, Radek grabbed a tray from beside the door. "Friends, now we have loosened up I propose a toast."

Everyone turned to look at Radek, then sat on the circle of seats, or moved around for others to sit down as he motioned for them to do so.

"This is my home town's special recipe." Radek filled the shot glasses with the fuchsia colored liquid.

Once each glass was filled, he handed two to each person.

"We take one glass in each hand, and speak of one thing we wish not for in the future." Radek explained. "Then once everyone has finished we drink the other and state what we do wish for."

"I need a refill!" Dara suddenly shouted.

"That's not how you play the game!" Kimberley poked her in the side, almost spilling her drink.

"It is not a game!" Radek almost shouted, and then mutters. "Stupid American Scottish females, pocínovat ne držet jejich alkohol."

"We can too hold our alcohol!" Kimberley overly nods, nudging Dara, who stares at her in horror.

"You can't drive a puddle jumper without taking out a barn side, but you can pick up Czech in three months?" Dara raises an eyebrow.

Kimberley shrugged.

"Can we start drinking?" Ronon piped up, then swung Radeks empty bottle around. "Got another bottle of this?"

Radek looked like he was going to explode.

"Here!" Kimberley suddenly yelled, waving a bottle of Everclear around.

'Where did she get that?' "Where did you get that?" Dara demanded. "You're not drinking that!"

"Uh, from the shop." She replied. "And I so am! Who died and made you my mom?"

"Your mom!" Dara snapped.

"Oh no you didn't!" Kimberley bobbed her head and downed the two drinks, preparing to launch herself at Dara.

"How about a game!" John sprang between the girls, noting how quickly Lorne grabbed Dara and Carson grabbed Kimberley.

"I'm not playing with her." Dara sulked.

"Ehhheheh, sure." Kimberley agreed.

"Aww, c'mon Dara it'll be fun." Jennifer smiled, placing a calming hand on the older female.

"I don't wanna, you can't make me!" Dara pouted.

"What's with all the emotions?" Rodney asked, leaning over to whisper loudly in Carson ear.

Carson rubbed his ear and glared at his friend. "It's the alcohol."

"How about Dara goes to the bathroom?" Kimberley suggested.

"Good idea!" Dara grinned and stood up, leaning over to grab Kimberley, causing everyone to jump in a semi drunk but still alert stance. "You're like a sistah! Pain in the ass, but know me well enough."

"I know!" Kimberley giggled, and returned the hug. "Sorry for, ya know, getting us into this mess."

"Meh, if you didn't do it now, you'd do it in six months." Dara waved off her apology and started making her way to the bathroom.  


* * *

  
Jennifer watched as Dara headed towards the bathroom, stumbling over the bottles on the floor. She frowned as Dara used her hands to guide her towards the toilet. "Maybe Dara shouldn't have any more to drink?"

"Yes, try telling her that." Ronon grinned. "It's really hard to tell her to stop doing stuff, especially drinking!"

John coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'pot' and 'kettle'.

"Ohohohoh!" Kimberley sprang up from her position on Carson, arms flailing as she bounced on her seat. "I have an idea!"

"Crap." Rodney muttered. "An idea like to fix a problem but make it worse or an idea like the kind that almost gets us killed?"

"Rodders!" Kimberley glared and whacked his arm. "Lets play I've never!"

"Never what?" Lorne asked, bringing over some of the bottles of shots.

"That's the name of the game, silly grouse!" Kimberley shook her head. "We each fill our glasses and go round in a circle and say we did something, and everyone that did it takes a drink, like shot a wraith."

Ronon started chugging down his bottle of Everclear.

"Ronon!" Kimberley thumped his leg. "Not yet!"  


* * *

  
"I'll go first, I've never been kissed." Kimberley stated and everyone took a shot.

"I've never flown a puddle jumper." John added.

"I've never crashed a puddle jumper." Kimberley said, taking two drinks, as did Rodney and John.

"I've never broken a bone." Carson offered and watched John, Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Zelenka and Lorne take a shot.

"I've never broke a computer." Lorne said, taking a drink the same time as Ronon, Rodney, Kimberley and John.

"I've never broke a naquidah generator." Zelenka spoke, looking pointedly at Rodney.

"I've never broken the Stargate." Rodney looked at Zelenka.

"It was fixable." The Czech muttered under his breath. "I never took picture of a certain blonde."

"I-uh-that is-eh." Rodney stuttered and his eyes got glassy.

"Rodney!" Jennifer raged, slapping him on the arm.

"What? Oh, right, sorry!" He replied, rubbing his arm. 'Ow.' "But it was before I met you."

"I've never broke Rodney's brain." John broke in, and took a shot, filling up a glass for Lorne, Ronon, Carson, Teyla and Zelenka, who motioned for the bottle to keep filling his up, taking a few more shots.

"I've never broke my significant others brain." Kimberley blinked and looked to the others. "What?"

"How did you manage to break your significant others brain?" Rodney demanded.

"I didn't drink!" She exclaimed.

"Why didn't you drink?" Dara demanded, plopping down on the seat beside Kimberley. "You should drink! Everybody should drink!"

"Because I didn't break my significant others brain!" Kimberley nearly shouted, eyes blinking to focus on Dara.

"Have you ever had a significant other?" Lorne politely asked.

"Yes." Kimberley nodded. "I think so."

"What do you mean you think so? Either you did or you didn't!" Rodney barked.

"McKay, some people term others in different ways that what you earthlings do." Ronon pointed out, placing his free hand on his scientist friend's shoulder.

"Wow...Ronon's philosophical when he's drunk." Dara pointed out wisely, nodding sagely.

Teyla and Jennifer exchanged a look and both began to push the alcohol away from Dara.

"So how long were you and Allan together?" Dara asked, poking her friend in the side. "And why did I never hear about him?"

Carson found himself leaning forward, wonder filling him.

"What are we listening to?" John asked, plopping down beside the cloned medic.

"Shh!" Carson clamped his hand on the Americans mouth.

"A little over a year." Kimberley informed her.

"So why did you break up?" Dara asked.

"Because I was going on holiday and he wanted to go on a break." Kimberley shrugged, sliding her glass between her hands.

"Oh!" Dara mouthed. "So this was before the first convention?"

Kimberley nodded.

"Why aren't you with him then?" The older of the two demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "We both see the way he is around you."

"And when will acting on that be a good idea?" Kimberley asked, successfully raising one eyebrow.

"Whoa you're drunk!" Dara poked Kimberley's face with her finger.

"Thank you captain obvious!" Kimberley rolled her eyes and tried to bat away Daras finger, successfully dong so after bopping her nose twice. "And when are you going to go after the guy you like?"

John frowned and tried to lean in closer, taking Carson with him over the edge.

As the boys crashed into the ground Kimberley and Dara sprung up like they had been bitten, looking at them in suspicion.

"Think they were listening to us?" Kimberley questioned.

"Knowing those two..." Dara trailed off, and then shook her head. "Naa, they're too drunk."

"I dunno, Carson can hold his liquor." the Scottish one of the two commented, then looked at John who was trying (and failing) to stand up. "John on the other hand, yeah, drunk as a skunk."

"You know, I still think that's a myth." Dara pointed to her friend with her glass.

"What, that guys can drink more than girl?" Kimberley asked.

"No, that Scottish people can consume more alcohol with less problems." Dara replied.  


* * *

  
Radek moved to the other side of the room to change the CD, muttering under his breath about the music tastes of the British.

As classical music began to flow from the speakers, everyone turned to look at the Czech, as though just noticing how strange he was.

Lorne walked over to the CD player and changed the CD, putting in one of his own mixes that he had brought with him when he came to Atlantis so many years ago.

Upbeat music began to play and Lorne tapped his foot before wriggling his bottom, move in sync with the beat.

Soon Kimberley had joined him, jumping around with her fist in the air.

Carson watched them with something akin to annoyance in his eye.

John finally sat up and watched as Jenifer began to dance with Rodney, who tapped his legs and waved his arms sporadically.

Teyla stood up and walked over to the table next to the bathroom, the one filled with various different bottles of alcohol and soft juice.

Looking at the titles Teyla tried to remember the discussions she had took part in with both John and Kimberley when talking about the alcohol from their home world, but many of it had left her mind.

'Hmm.' She though, and picked up the one named 'Smirnoff Vodka' and quarter filled her glass, adding some opened Dr Pepper to the tall glass.

"Whoa!" Dara flew forward and grabbed the drink from Teyla. "You do NOT want to drink that much!"

Teyla frowned but nodded. "Perhaps the measurement was too strong, should I add more of the Vodka?"

"Less Vodka or Teyla's going to end up legless." Dara pointed to her, almost spilling the drink, quickly sipping it to stop it from dripping over the edge, taking a deep gulp at the great taste.

"It that something that Vodka does?" Teyla looked confused. "Remove your legs?"

"Nooooo, it's a saying." Dara waved her free hand, snagging some chips from one of the bowls and popping them into her mouth. "So...how's Kanaan?"

"He is very well." Teyla replied, and then frowned. "I am curious, why do you ask?"

"Oh just making conversation." Dara waved the half-empty glass around before taking another deep sip. "And I've got one word for ya."

Dara leaned towards Teyla, who copied her movements. "Use birth control."

"Who's using birth control?" Carson asked, pausing on his way for another whiskey.

"KIMBERLEY!" Rodney shouted and they turned to watch Kimberley and Zelenka waltzing around the room, haven almost knocked Rodney down.

"Sorry Rodders!" She laughed and twirled around some more.

"Don't call me Rodders!" Rodney glowered.

"Daaaang I want some of that!" Dara commented as she watched her buzzing friend swap partners from Zelenka to Lorne, before making her way back to the other side of the room where the seats were.

Dara stopped from where she was walking to and looked quizzically at the wall. "Wait, I think my timings off. Oh well!"  


* * *

  
Rodney grabbed Kimberley by her shoulders and slammed her into a seat. "Sit! Stay!"

'What am I a dog?' She asked her self and went to stand up, then thought of something. "Hey Rodders?"

"Don't-what?" He asked exasperatedly.

"I've got a question." She smiled at him.

"42." He replied.

"That wasn't the question." Kimberley stomped her feet, then grabbed her ankles. 'Ow!'

"It wasn't?" Rodney frowned.

"Okay, it was one of the questions." She grinned sheepishly, accepting a drink from Ronon. "But, what I want to know is how Atlantis became the lost city?"

"Huh?" Rodney, oh so eloquently, asked.

"I mean, how do you lose a city? Wouldn't you have a forward address or something on it? Or at least be able to follows its supposed moving path?"

"It's a city, not a parcel gong though UPS." Rodney replied, rolling his eyes, and then turned to look at her. "Although if something had a similar frequency it could be followed through space..."

Without another (clear) word to anyone, Rodney tore from the room and flew into the corridor.

"Was it something I said?" Kimberley blinked.

Jennifer looked at the back of Rodney and sighed. "I'm going to get to bed too guys, I'm not much of a drinker."

"Do you want someone to walk with you?" Lorne offered, moving to place his cup on a table.

"No, no, I'll be fine." Jennifer smiled. "I'll see you guys in the morning no doubt."

"You in the infirmary?" John frowned. 'I thought everyone who was coming tonight was off?'

"Yeah." She nodded and leaned into whisper in his ear. "It was to give Carson the morning off in case he finally gets together with Kimberley, or she shoots him down."

As one, they turned and looked at said girl and the medic, who were standing close to one another and talking amongst themselves, the female blinking in tiredness and the clone placing his hand on her shoulder in question.

'No chance.' They both thought and shared a knowing smile.

"See ya in the PM doc!" Dara waved her goodbye and rounded on John. "Where's my Kool-Aid?"

"What makes you think I've got it?" He demanded.

"Your lips are red!" Dara 'duh'ed.

"Why are you looking at my lips?" He grinned.

"Because they're the least offensive part of your body." She snapped in return, holding her hand out for her bottle, which after a minute of silence he handed over, half empty.

Jennifer smiled at their interaction and waved to everyone, calling out a loud good night.

Once she exited the room, Jennifer walked to the left, happy that she did not need to use a transporter to get to her room as it was so close.

After a few minutes walking, she turned around and frowned. 'Was that a dreadlock?'

Instead of doubling back she shrugged and continued walking, turning the corner to her room and paused.

Seconds later Ronon stumbled past her and stopped, looking confused before looking around in a 360 turn. When he noticed her, he smiled. "Just making sure you got back okay."

"I'll be fine Ronon, go back to the party." Jennifer smiled and entered her room, sticking her head out long enough to see the Sedetan walk backwards into a wall, then turn around and head towards the direction of the party.

After a few minutes, Jennifer got a nagging feeling in her stomach. "Something bad is going to happen. I'm going back."  
o0obreako0o  
As Jennifer returned to the room, Kimberley made her way over to Ronon. "Hey Ro?"

"Hmm?" He asked, turning his head to look at her.

"I know I can't drink like Dara, but you wanna do some shots with me?" She asked innocently, holding up a golden bottle.

"What is it?" Ronon asked, already clearing empty bottles off the seat for her to sit down.

"Jagermeister." Kimberley grinned, sitting down and filling two shots glasses.

"Whoa." Ronon exclaimed at the kickback. 'How can she drink that?'

"Want another?" She asked, already filling the glasses again.

"Sure." Ronon nodded. "Will you be able to keep up?"

"Worry about yourself Ro!" Kimberley giggled and went to take a shot, accidentally taking it from the bottle. "Woops!"

"Should they be drinking as much?" Jennifer asked Carson, who was watching them intently.

"While they are mixing their drinks, and spirit levels, they're both experienced drinkers." Carson sipped his glass of water. "Would you like to tell Ronon to stop drinking?"

Jennifer made an acknowledging face and looked for a safe place to sit. "Who is going to be cleaning all this mess up?"

"Dara talked John into volunteering." Teyla explained from her space between the two medics. "I do not know much, but I do know there was a threat."

"GOOSE!" Kimberley shouted and shot pasted the trio, Ronon quick on her heels.

The three turned and watched as Ronon tackled her to the ground, the female banging her head off the floor but laughing as did the male.

Ronon stood up and held his hand out for Kimberley. She accepted it and he quickly hauled her to her feet.

The music changed and Ronon grabbed one of Kimberleys hands, his other going around her waist and he grinned at her. Kimberley laughed in return and the duo began to hop dance around the room, almost tripping up over the empty bottles, Zelenka and Lorne who tried to get out of their way, and the couches, which they did trip up on and fall into, landing upside down and laughing like loons.

"Wait, I'm getting ditzy!" Kimberley shouted.

"Don't you mean dizzy?" Ronon asked, turning his head to look at her.

Kimberley opens her mouth, and then paused, closing it before opening it again. "No, I mean ditzy."

Ronon grinned and moved his feet to turn him off the couch. Grabbing Kimberley from under her arms, he hauled her of the couch and onto the floor.

"Ro! Stop Sedetan handling me!" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, huffing in annoyance.

"Sedetan handling?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ya." She nodded. "And stop raising the eyebrow!"

"You Earth girls are so weird!" He snorted, sitting across from her and crossing his legs.

"And you Sedetan men are too!" She snapped, putting her chin in her hands.

Ronon seemed to think for a second before his grin turned into a predatory smile. "So Kimbo, who was you're last boyfriend?"

"Uh, you met him in the-waaaaait! You weren't there!" Kimberley slapped her head. "Do I gotta go over this again?"

Ronon leaned in closer to her. "Not if you tell the doc you like him."

"What did you say to her?" Carson demanded as Kimberley turned red, then blue. "Crap."

Deciding to be tough but kind, Carson put his hands on the overly dramatic female. "Kimbo, breath hen!"

Ronon whacked her on the back, causing her to fall forward onto Carson.

"RONON!" She yelled as she tackled him.

After a few minutes of keeping Kimberley off of him, Ronon looked around for his other drinking buddy. "Where's Dara?"

Kimberley paused, stopping her movements. The lack of force caused Ronon's arms to go lax and her to fall into him, creating a mess of limbs.

After detangling themselves, Kimberley pointed to the bathroom. "She's in the thingy."

'She forgot the name of the bathroom.' Carson frowned. "Isn't this a sign you should stop drinking?"

"What forgetting the name of the whatchamacallit?" Kimberley asked, shaking her head. "Naa happens all the time."

"Why is it just popping up now?" Carson demanded. 'Did she really bonk her head earlier?'

"Because I'm not careful about my words." Kimberley shrugged, sitting up and looking at the collected group. "Someone going to check on her? She went in about half an hour ago."

"I'll go," John offered, already stalking towards the bathroom.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Jennifer replied, shaking her head.

"I'm the head of military personnel, I've faced down more Wraith than had hot dinners, I think I am more that capable of taking to a drunk woman." John explained.

"But Dara is a female." Teyla intervened.

"And?" John asked.

"You always try and Kirk your way with women." Kimberley grinned from her spot on the floor.

"I do not-" John paused as everyone nodded and Rodney coughed 'ohyesyoudo.' "Okay, maybe I do, sometimes."

"Just leave it to the professionals." Rodney patted him on the shoulder.

"At least let me give it a shot!" John pleaded.

'I should wonder why he wants to talk with Dara alone, but-' "Let him have a go guys, what's the worst that could happen?" Kimberley implored.

Zelenka and Lorne groaned. "You just jinxed him, Kimberley."

John left the group and crossed the room to the bathroom, knocking on the door lightly. "Dara? You okay?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you sleeping?"

"MMm."

"DARA!"

"WHAT!"

"Are you sleeping in the bathroom?" John demanded.

There was silence.

Then a snore.

"DARA!"

"WHAT!"

'I am not repeating myself.' "Get out here."

"No, I'm comfy." Dara replied. "Go 'way."

John went to open his mouth but stopped, knowing when he was involved in a losing battle. Turning to the group, he smiled sheepishly. "Worth a shot."

"Its okay John, you tried." Jennifer smiled reassuringly at him, crossing the room to stand in his place in front of the bathroom. "Dara? Are you coming out?"

"Jennifer?" Dara asked.

"Yes?"

"Go 'way."

Jennifer took a breath, holding it as someone put their hand on her shoulder. "Let a professional handle this."

"Dara?" Ronon asked, pounding on the door.

"WHAT!"

"Got some more booze," He replied simply.

The door unlocked.

"Where?" Dara asked, stepping out and smiling at them. "What?"

* * *

John watched as Ronon and Dara downed another shot of some really potent stuff. As he took another swing of his beer, he watched as Dara started to giggle insanely.

"How many of those have you had?" Rodney asked bewilderedly.

Dara stops laughing and looks at her fingers. As she moved them up and down, they could see her sway a little. "About five. NO! Wait! Six. Yeah, six."

"Dara, I think you should probably lay off the drinking. Simple math is starting to escape you," Carson says.

"Pffft! No way! Tonight is my night to DRINK!"

"Dara, you're a little loud."

"You're a little LOUD!" Dara retorts back at Jennifer, just before she starts to laugh.

Jennifer shakes her head and sighs. "Ronon, how are you feeling?"

Ronon just looks over and snorts. "Just buzzing really good."

"I told her it was a bad idea to try and keep up with you," says Rodney.

Ronon just gives him a look. "At least she was the only one brave enough to try."

"Even though, she did say she would be out really quick," replies John.

"Yeah."

Without any warning, Dara stands up really quick, almost falling back down. "I gotta piss!"

"Thanks for sharing," Rodney says with this look on this face.

Dara gets this dopey grin on her face and says, "I figured you would want to know." Stumbling past everyone, she begins to walk in a weaving line. They watched as she made it to the door, only to actually run into the door, before it opened. She stumbles back, just as the door opened up. Laughing like a maniac, she manages to get out, "I ran into the door! That totally hurt."

Sighing, John stands up. "I better help her."

"You should probably get her to bed, too," Carson says.

"I'll do that. I'll be back when I get her to bed." John walks over to Dara and grabs her shoulders, mostly to stop her from falling over from her swaying. "Say, night, Dara."

"Night, Dara!" Dara begins to laugh again. "Did you see that, I made a funny!"

"Yes, yes, I did." As John guided her out of the room, he could hear everyone call "Good night, Dara," out to her, just before the door closed.

* * *

John carefully holds Dara's shoulders as he guides her down the halls. "John I gotta piss, really bad!"

"I know. You kind of mentioned it earlier."

"No, I mean REALLY bad. Like, I'm going to piss my pants right here, right now."

"Um, okay." John looks around and does a quick calculation. Realizing that it would be faster to get to his room, then anywhere else, he decided to go there. "Can you hold it for about two minutes?"

"Yeah, sure."

John quickly leads her to his door, swipes his hand over the crystals, which causes his door to open.

"Isn't this your room?" Dara asks, leaning over to look in the room and almost fell over from the lack of balance.

"Yeah. Just go use the bathroom and I'll get you back to your room."

"Okay dokie!"

* * *

As Dara walked towards the bathroom, John sighed, shaking his head. 'Never knew she would get wasted this fast! Might have had something to do with all the proof in that Everclear.'

John moved to sit on his bed but stopped as Dara walked into the wall about a foot from the bathroom door.

"Stupid door!" She glared and hit it. "What did you go and move for!"

Instead of making sure she was okay, John raised an eyebrow. 'What did Kimberley say her nickname was? Crazy Dara? Huh, fits.'

Sitting on the bed, he tapped his foot. 'Damn, now I gotta use the bathroom.'

Looking for something to occupy his time with John reached under his bed, withdrawing a stack of magazines.

* * *

Exiting the bathroom Dara blinked her eyes rapidly to try and get some clarity in them. 'Maybe I shouldn't have had that eight, no, seventh - tenth? I shouldn't've had that last shot.'

Shaking her head she walked in a straight (ish) line, clinging to the wall as the room moved. "Thanks!"

"Did you just talk to a wall?" John asked, flipping through his latest golf magazine courtesy of the girls shopping trips, raising his eyebrow.

"Don't you shoot that eye brow up at me!" Dara exclaimed, pointing her finger at him, stumbling forward to glare at him.

John kept the eyebrow in the air, but waggled it a little. Dara giggled.

"Did you just giggle?" John asked.

"I'm a liiiitle drunk," Dara laughed.

John shook his head then frowned as she began to stumble towards the center of the room. Standing up he tried to walk quickly, but ended up stumbling towards her.

They met in the middle of the room, Johns hands going around Daras waist.

'If I wasn't so wasted, I think I would mind.' Dara looked up at John, smiling softly at him. 'Should I hit him?'

'Is she going to hit me?' John wondered as he slowly looked down at her, returning the smile. "Are you going to hit me?"

"Naa." Dara shook her head, and moved her hands to grasp his shoulders, pulling him slightly closer. "Buuuut, I might do this."

John made a shocked noise at the back of his throat as Dara closed the gap between them, walking him backwards and toppling them over onto the bed.

After a few seconds of kissing, John tried to pry his lips from Daras. After succeeding he kept, his head back enough, to look up at her. "Dara, are you okay?"

Dara looked down at him and grinned. "In the words of my Scottish dummy, I'm pished, but not stupid."

* * *

Kimberley loudly belted out a verse of Batman's Jingle bells, before she started to giggle like crazy, because Rodney gave her this funny look.

Jennifer gives the now giggling Kimberley a look. "Maybe, it's a good thing that Dara went to bed hours ago."

"Did she really?" Ronon says with a really big grin.

"Oh, please!" Rodney exclaimed, as he took a swig of the current alcohol mixture they were on. "Where else would she be?"

Ronon almost spit up his drink, then starts to laugh. "Where else would she be? Come on McKay, put two and two together."

"What two and two?"

"John walked her back."

"So?"

"He said he would return and he has not," Teyla adds.

"Maybe he went to his room and passed out."

Ronon laughs even harder than he did before. "I highly doubt that. You know John."

"Yeah and I know Dara too! She won't fall for his Kirk way!"

With that one comment, Kimberley starts to laugh so hard, she actually fell out of the chair. "His Kirk way! They are totally in love!"

Carson sighs as Kimberley continues to laugh, but starts to roll around on the floor. "I think you should go to bed, hen," he says.

"No, I'm good Car!" she barely exclaims between the laughs.

"No, you're not."

"Okay!"

Carson helps her up and manages to get her arm on his shoulders. "I think I'll go to bed, too. Just in case I get an early morning wake up call, because someone got alcohol poisoning or a really bad hangover."

"Night, Carson!" everyone rings out, just before he turns around to leave with Kimberley.

They managed to get half way down the hall, when Kimberley says, "So, your room or mine, Carson?"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Car! I like you, you like me... Uh... Where was I going with this?"

"I was taking you back to your room."

"Right! Your room!" Kimberley manages to get her arm off of Carson's shoulders and runs down the hallway. "Come catch me, Car!"

"Slow down! You might hurt yourself." Carson soon chased after, until he finally reached his door. He just saw her enter his room. Quickly he swipes his hand over the crystals, causing his door to open. He steps into his dark room and looks around. "Where are you, hen?"

As the door swishes close, Kimberley grabs him from behind and hugs him. "Right here."

Carson manages to turn around, just as she begins to snuggle into him. "Kimberley, we should really get you to your room."

"Why? Don't you like me?" Kimberley gives him this pouty lip and almost gets misty eyed. "I really like you." Kimberley leans up and kisses Carson on the lips.

He almost melts there, but his thoughts come rushing back to him. He pushes Kimberley away from. "I can't do that!"

Kimberley sits down on his bed and looks at him. "Why not?"

"Because you're under the influence. I would be taking advantage of you."

"Did you ever think that maybe I'm taking advantage of you?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

Carson takes a step towards her, when half his mind began to scream at him that it was wrong. Without warning, he runs into the bathroom and closes the door. "What am I suppose to do?" Soon he mind was mind was playing through all the different scenarios, when he finally makes up his mind. "Okay, if she really wants this and keeps pushing this, I'll do this."

Carefully he steps out of the bathroom and looks around the dark room. "I'm ready."

He happens to look at the bed there Kimberley laid, sleeping, her clothes on the floor as if she was waiting. Carefully he grabs a blanket and covers her up. Then he goes over to his free chair, sits down, and watches her sleep. "Night, hen."


	19. The Morning After

Slowly, Dara raised her head, trying to open her eyes. As they opened, she groaned as the bright light burned her sensitive retinas. With a grunt she flopped around on her bed, sighing into the sheets. 'Bleh, I gotta go pee.'

Giving herself another ten minutes, Dara moved her head on the pillow and smiled contently as an arm wrapped itself around her waist.

'Wait a minute.'

An arm wrapped itself around her waist.

"Gah!" Dara shot up, falling off the bed and taking the cover with her. "Who the, oh, chicken!"

John Sheppard, a very naked, hung over and yet amused man, raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Dara on the floor. "What-cha doing on the floor?"

Dara looked at him.

He looked back at her and smirked. "Chicken? I don't see any chickens in here."

Dara followed his eyes and exclaimed a profanity, grabbing the covers, and covering up to her chin. "What the hell do you think you are doing in my room?"

"Uh, I think you'll find this is my room." John waggled his eyebrows. "And I'm naked, your naked, what do you think we were doing in here?"

'Killing the highest ranking military officer in Atlantis?' Dara thought, then put her head in her hands. "Please tell me we didn't."

"Okay, we didn't," John replied, picking something up from the bedside table.

"Are you lying to me?" Dara groaned.

"Yup." John grinned, then frowned. "You don't remember last night?"

Her head shook negatively.

"Are you okay?" John asked, grabbing a pillow and placing it on his lap, wondering what he should do.

"Yeah, fine." Dara pulled her head from her hands, smiling unsurely at him. "I'll remember it later. You okay?"

John nodded slowly.

They looked anywhere, but at each other. Dara picked up some lint on the cover before clearing her throat. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Huh?" John's head snapped up. "So, you don't-"

"Maybe it is something to regret if I couldn't remember it the morning after," Dara joked.

"Naa, it was just that mind blowing." He grinned and relaxed.

"Have you seen my clothes?" Dara suddenly demanded, looking at Johns watch, scrambling to stand up and keep the sheet covering her body.

"What do you need your clothes for?" John stupidly asked, watching her dart across the room, grabbing her top and jeans, looking under the bed, the sheet sliding down ever so slightly.

"Eyes front Sheppard." Dara snaps her fingers close to his eyes. "I'm supposed to meet Kimberley in thirty minutes, and haven't been home yet. I don't want her to worry."

"You've still got thirty minutes." John sat up on the bed, crossing his legs at the ankle, subconsciously knocking the pillow off his lap. "The transporters will get you there in ten."

"I still gotta find my underwear." Dara rolled her eyes, trying to sneak past him and go into the shower.

Quickly he darts his arms out and grabs her, pulling her body close to his. "Why don't we see if we can jog your memory?"

"Sheppard, let me go." Dara glares.

"C'mon Dara, one more roll in the hay, whaddya say?" He wriggles his eyebrows.

SMACK

John rubbed his cheek, wincing at the sting. 'Damn that woman's got a good right hand.' "Look Dara, I'm sorry, I can't get anything right."

With a sigh, he throws his legs over the side of the bed, sits there, and slowly putting his head in his hands.

Dara Bit her lip, conscious that she might only have ten more minutes before Kimberley got really suspicious - 'wait a minute, its Kimberley, miss I like to sleep till noon come hail, sleet or wraith attack.'

Feeling somewhat guilty she sat on the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay Sheppard?"

"Part from my cheek?" He asked cheekily, grinning at her. "I'm good. Hey, why don't you do use the shower."

"Thanks John." Dara smiled brightly at him. 'He's not sure a pervvy prick after all. Damn I'm using to many Briticisms.'

Standing up, she smiles at him and begins to move towards the bathroom, pausing as he stands. "Er, where are you going?"

"Shower." He grins. "Might as well save water."

SMACK.  


* * *

  
Kimberley rolled over and slowly opened her eyes. The room was still dark, but glancing at the clock she noticed it was pretty late. Carefully she sits up in the bed and groans. "What a night." Looking around she notices her clothes on the floor. "What happened?"

She gets up, begins to find all her clothes, then slowly puts them on. After finally getting her top back on, she looks around. "Carson?" Quietly she creeps towards the bathroom door and puts her ear to it, to hear him taking a shower, humming to himself.

Tip toeing away from the door, she does one more sweep, making sure that she had everything, when a voice startles her. "Good Morning, Kimberley."

Kimberley jumps, then turns around. "Good Morning, Car... son..." She couldn't help, but to stare. There Carson stood in nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist and a towel hanging from around his neck.

"I'm sorry that I disturbed you." He steps to the side and out of the way of the door way to the bathroom. "Would you like to freshen up or anything?"

Kimberley just shakes her head.

"Are you sure, hen?"

Kimberley just nods, still not taking her eyes off of him.

"Okay. Just give me a few more moments. I'll finish up and I'll walk you to your room."

Kimberley opens her mouth to say something, closes it, then just nods one more time.

Kimberley watches as Carson wanders around the room, picking clothes from his cabinet before bending down low and picking up a pair of shoes.

'Down girl!' She thought to herself, glad the alchol had been slept off. 'Otherwise I would have made a complete-wait a minute, what did happen last night?'

"I'll just be a second luv." Carson nodded to her and backtracked into the bathroom, leaving one confused dame.  


* * *

  
In the bathroom Carson let out a sigh of relief. 'She disnae remember anything about last night. Thank God.'

Quickly he changed into his day clothes and towel dried his hair. Looking quicky in the mirror he smiled cheekily to himself, using his hands to sweep his hair up, then push it together from the sides.

Stepping out of the bathroom he smiled at Kimberley, who sat on the chair he had slept in last night, blinking tiredly. "Do I look presentable?"

Kimberley jumped and looked at him, nodding slowly then frowning. "Your hairs a little..."

"Little what?" Carson asked, placing a hand to it.

Slowy she stands up and crosses the room, smiling to him as she reaches up and messes the tip of his hair up. "Sorry, you were looking like a shark."

Carson burt into laughter at her words. "Thank you. Shall we?"

"We shall." Kimberley grinned. 'Even if I can't remember what happened last night, Carson won't tell everyone. Or anyone for that matter.'

Together they left the cloned medics quarters and headed for the opposite side of the city.  


* * *

  
Jennifer smiled as she entered the infirmary, nodding to the night shift as they left. she grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at her desk, waiting for the night shift doctor to come in and give her the report.

"Team 12 came through with minor burns to their backsides, don't ask." He gave her a weary smile. "Their casts are due to come off in a week. Smith and Wesson came in with broken thumbs, apparantly they thought it would be a good idea to thumb wrestly with Specialist Dex while he was drunk last night. And thats all that came in, pretty quiet night."

"Hopefully its a quiet day." Jennifer smiled to him, then frowned. "No hangovers? Alcohol poisioing?"

"No...who was drinking?" He blinked, suddenly very curious.

"Um, I saw the girls with crates of alcohol yesterday when they returned from their reality." Jennifer replied quickly.

A glean suddenly entered his eyes and he nodded to her, bid her a good morning, then left in search of the two alternate earthlings.

Jennifer shook her head and moved to the pain killer cabinet, preparign a few prescipritiosn for when the gang came in.  


* * *

  
Dara paced back and forth in their "living room", as her thoughts wondered. She wanted to know where Kimberley went. She had hoped that Kimberley didn't realised that Dara didn't come back to their room at all and went looking for her.

After a few minutes the door chime goes off. Dara rushes to the door and swipes her hand over the crystal. "Kimberley!"

"Dara!" Kimberley smiles, hops into the room and hugs her. Dara shoots up an eyebrow. She then notices Carson standing outside the door. "I'm going to take a shower, kay?"

"Okay," was all Dara managed to say before Kimberley ran off.

Once Dara was sure that Kimberley was out of ear shot, she steps outside and looks at Carson.

"What?" he questions when he noticed the evil look she was giving him. She then hits him in the arm. "Ouch! What'd you do that for?"

"I expected better of you, Carson!"

"What does that mean?"

Dara points her finger up, almost right under Carson's nose. "You know what I mean! Taking advantage of her. She was under the influence and, I, you! I'm so angry with you I can't even tell you off properly!"

Without a word of warning, Dara spins on her heel and walks back into the room. The door seems to "slam" shut, leaving Carson standing there confused. "But I was a prefect gentleman the whole time."  


* * *

  
Dara sat on there couch, waiting for Kimberley to get out of the shower. She had promised Kimberley that they could have a girls day "out". Dara put her elbow on her knee and leaned her head in her hand. Closing her eyes, she tried to get the nasty hangover to go away. At that point, it was a reminder of something she didn't want to think about at that moment.

"Dara! I'm ready, are you?"

Dara jerked her head out of her hands and looked at the smiling Kimberley. "You are way to damn perky, especially having a night like we did, last night."

"You shouldn't have drank so much."

Dara gives her an evil glare. "You drank more than me!"

"I'm a Scot! I can hold my liquor."

Dara stands up and shakes her head. "I think that's a myth, but whatever."

"So, where to first?"

Dara rubs her head. "Breakfast. So, the cafeteria."

"Are you sure you can handle that. I don't want your weak stomach puking it all back up."

"Trust me, I could use a bacon sandwich, to combat this stupid hangover."

"Okay dokie!"

Soon, they were walking out the door and towards the cafeteria. When they were close enough to the door, John Sheppard happened to walk out. He notices Dara, gives her a smirk and continues on his way.

Dara's face gets a little red and covers her eyes really quick and shakes her head.

Of coarse Kimberley noticed what just happened between the two, then stares Dara down.

"What?" Dara asked when she finally looked up and noticed Kimberly staring at her.

"What just happened?"

"Nothing!" Dara defended a little to quickly.

"Something just happened. Did this have to do with last night? I know you got pretty wasted, fast. I also know John got buzzed pretty good, but he decided to be nice and walk you back to our room. He said he would be back, but he..." Kimberley got this look, like it hit her all at once. "Oh. My. GOD!"

Dara gets this innocent look on her face. "What?"

"You and John!"

Dara looks down really quick, but her face turns a very bright shade of red. "No," she tries to say quietly.

"Dara, I so know you are lying."

"I am not."

"Dara!"

"Okay, I am."

Kimberley gets a really big smile on her face. "You have to tell me everything!"  


* * *

  
John laughed to himself as he left Dara red faced an struggling to answer Kimberleys inquisitive questions. With a skip in his step the head of the military personel left the cafateria and headed to the gate room.

Stopping at the main computer systems he looked disintered before plopping down onto the free chair and rooting through the computer, bringing up the camvera footage for the last night just outside the confrence room they had used.

'Not available?' John frowned. 'How will I have known who won the bet then?'

"So who won the bet?" Amelia, the gate tech, asked as she looked at Sheppard on her chair.

'Did I say that out loud?' He wondered, standing up and smiling sheepishly.

"I'm curious, I know there was bets flying around about last night, so, who won?" She asked again, sitting on her chair and sipping her coffee substitute. "I had my last pack of coffee beans on Zelenka leaving first."

"I think Dara technicaly left first." John replied carefully.

"Damn." She groaned, glaring at her cup. "Was there something you need Col?"

"The security tapes from last night." He asked.

"Sorry, no can do. Doctor Zelenka put the cameras inside the confrence room and the corridor outside off line to avoid any blackmail." She shook her head.

"Damn." He replied, then grinned. "What about the footage of sorrouding corridors? Say from 1900 hours till about 0300 hours?"

"There would be quite a lot of data. I could send it to your computer via the wirelsss network?" She offered.

'Hmm, what are the chances of me getting to my room and starting to look at it before the Wraith come for an invasion?' John pondered, and nodded to a nearby data pad. "Can you put it on that?"

"Sure but its-" "Thanks!"

Amelia thought about telling him the data pad belong to Doctor McKay, but shrugged internally.  


* * *

  
A loud clanking noise broke Rodney McKay into the land of the living.

Bleerily he opened his eyes, blinking them to see what he was lying on.

"It is a desk." Came the amused voice from beside him.

"Gah!" The scientist of the first team exclaimed, flalling his arms around and falling off the desk and onto his glutimus maximus.

Rodney heard footsteps from his left side. Opening his eyes was bothersome, so he curled into himself. "Go 'way."

"Rodney, this is my lab." The voice continued to annoy him.

"I don't care! I'm sleeping!" Rodney snapped, refusing even more to sit up.

"You are really annoying for a sleeping person." They stated and Rodney grunted before closing his eyes one more time.  


* * *

  
"Ahhh, Dr. McKay, there you are," Mr. Woolsey says as he walks into Rodney's lab, holding his notebook.

"Yes, may I help you, Mr. Woolsey?"

"I believe you can. I was under the impression that a large group of people were out late at night, drink large quanities of alcohol."

"Your point is?"

Mr. Woolsey looks in his notebook and jots a few notes down. "Isn't that unsafe in a city like this."

"For your information, we all have the day off today. Not to mention, I'm sure the Ancients put safe guards on everything, in case of events like this. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be bothering someone else. I know you have been here for about a month, mostly to do a full detailed review, but you already went over everything I have."

"Yes, but resent events suggest I should make another round to see if everything is proper working order."

Rodney sighes and puts his RC car down. "What do you want to know, hmmm?" He turns and looks at Mr. Woolsey, giving him this look. "Like how I work almost all day and all night, to protect this city, or that I'm in the field trying to find artifacts to help us out with the Wraith, or that I haven't had a decent night off since last night. I really hate to see what would happen if a mind like mine would burn out at an important moment without nights like last night."

Mr. Woolsey looked a little bit uncomportable at that idea. "Yes, well, ummm, I think I've got everything I need. I may be back to talk to you later about what happened."

"Please do," Rodney says as he hauls out a very dangerous machine and grabs a hammer.

Rodney placed a hand to his ear as his radio came to life. "Yes, what! Do I have to? Fine!"  


* * *

  
Whistling as he walked, John 'Kirky' Sheppard had an idea as he began to leave the transporter and headed towards the infirmary.

Held tightly in his hands was print outs of Carsons walk with Kimberley, the last one of the two of them smiling to each other before the door closed.

"Col, what are you doing down here?" Carson asked, handing Rodney some of the stronger pain killers hidden behind his picture of his mother. "How was it getting Dara back to her room last night?"

"Remember we're racing RCs later- why are you down here?" John suddenly demanded. "I was looking for you."

"I was seeing if anyone was checking them selves in for alcohol poisoning." He raised his eyebrow.

John grinned. "Yeah doc, sure."

Carson frowned. "Why, what do you think I'm here for?"

"Oh I dunno, something for Kimberley?" He suggested.

"Have you seen Kimberleys bathroom? There are more drugs in there than are in here!" Carson replied.

"There are?" John asked.

"Yes- what were you looking for me for?" Carson asked again. "And why would I be looking for something for Kimberley, is she okay?"

"You tell me doc." John grinned again and waved the pieces of paper around.

"What are those?" Carson demanded.

"Just a little evidnece, of you and a certain brunnette." John continued to grin.

"And what are you going to do with that information?" Carson worried. 'Kimberley would never forgive me if that got into the grape vine, she would think I told 'em everything!'

"Maybe use it, maybe not." John answered simply, sitting down on one of the beds.

"Here's the flu shots Doctor Beckett." A nurse handed the doctor a syringe.

"Not alergic to egg shells are ya?" Carson asked as he grabbed John arm, nodding to the nurse to use an anticeptic wipe on his forearm. "No? Good."

"WAIT DOC WAIT!" John yelped, trying to get away. "I'll drop it!"

"Course you will, because nothing happened last night." Carson nodded and held his hand out for the photographs. "But your still getting a shot." 'Try and black mail me ya we bugger.'  


* * *

  
Dara and Kimberley sat at the cafeteria table as Dara inhaled her second bacon sandwich. "I know I'm going to get some really bad break outs for this, but at least the hangover will be gone faster."

Kimberley just stared Dara down over her empty tray. "So, that was it?"

Dara just blinks back over at her. "Yeah, why?"

"I was hoping for more," Kimberley huffs.

"So..." Dara starts with a grin. "Tell me what happened between you and Carson?"

Kimberley gets a big grin on her face. "Unfortunately I can't tell you."

Dara gets a frown on her face. "And why not?"

"Because I can't remember a darn thing."

"I hate you!"

"What?"

"I told you what I know and you can't tell me anything."

"Sorry," Kimberley says with a sheepish grin. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell you as soon as I remember."

"Yeah, sure..." Dara mumbles as her thoughts begin to drift.

Kimberley snaps her fingers over towards Dara. "Hello, Atlantis to Dara!"

"Hmm?" Dara looks at Kimberley a little startled, as if she had pulled her out of a deep thought.

"Where did you just go?"

"Sorry, my mind was going back over what John said to me."

"That was?"

"He said that last night was mind blowing..."

"And?"

"Well, I was drunk as hell. It just got me wondering about how I am when I'm drunk and when I'm not."

Kimberley gets this evil grin and leans forward. "Well, go ask him for another round and ask him of his opinion on that."

"KIMBERLEY!" Dara swings her right hand and smacks her loudly in the arm.

Kimberley felt something twang at the back of her head. Turning around she smiled slightly at the site of Carson looking around the mess hall. The smile turned itno a grin as she remember what little he was wearing this morning, then the grin fell as she remembered that she made a fool out of herself last night, and there was no way Carson would want to hang around with her now.

"Kimberley, there you are." Carson smiled as he neared them, fingering a bag in his hands.

"I didn't forget something, did I?" she asked, blushing to her roots as she looked at the bag.

"No, no. I was wondering if you would like to have erm, lunch with me?" He finally asked.

Dara noticed that Kimberley was about to bring her in as an argument against going, and stood up. "Sure thing Carson, take her off my hands. See you around later Kimberley."

"Are you sure Dara?" Kimberley asked, both excited and scared at the thought of speniding some one on one time with Carson after her humiliation last night.

"If you want, you could meet me in a few hours?" Carson offered, noting her slight hesitation.

Dara nodded for her. "Good idea Carson, she'll see you in a few. We're due to meet Teyla for some training, so talk to you later."

Carson copied her head movement and watched them leave, silently wondering if he had messed up with Kimberley.  


* * *

  
John groaned as he bent down, picking up another bottle from the floor. He placed it in the large purple bin that Kimberley had brought with her, glancing around the room to survey their clean up progress.

Most of the bottles had been picked up from the floor, and Rodney was working on getting the chalk drawing of 'Pin the knife on the Wraith' off the wall. Ronon was holding up the couch as Evan and Zelenka grabbed the things that had fell under it.

Rotella entered the room just as Ronon almost dropped it onto Zelenkas head, Lorne pulling him out at the last second.

He side stepped as Ronon grabbed one of the red buckets and started emptying his stomach into it.

"Hope that wasn't my cooking." He commented, looking around the room, then frowned.

"Is McKay wearing make up?" He asked, pointing to the man who was working mainly by himself.

"He had a fight with a sharpie last night." John grinned.

"Who was it?" Ronon asked.

"No idea. Talk with Lorne if you want to join the betting pool." John shrugged.

"So where are the rest of the 'party animals'?" Rotella asked, stacking up the dishes and prepared them for transport.

"The girls are having a 'girly day' and Becketts trying to work up the courage to talk with Boyce." John informed him. "Thanks for making the stuff for last night."

"No problem Col, glad to help." He nodded.

"Hope it didn't set your budget back too much." John added.

Scott just shrugged. "Its something that Kimberley wanted, so its filled under the girls expenses."  
John frowned. "Is she costing too much?"

"Not as much as the IOA have set aside for her." Scott informed him. "I'm setting a little bit aside each month for her big events that she keeps planning. Hopefully that will cover the costs."

John nodded, and went to open his mouth when Ronon moved closer to the glass bin and leant over it, upchucking into it. John pulled a face and turned to Rodney. "Wanna go play with the RCs?"

Rodney looked at Ronon, then nodded.  


* * *

  
John held his RC car and remote as he waited for Rodney to come to the hall, were they always raced. After a few minutes, Rodney comes rushing up, out of breath, and carrying his RC car and remote. "Sorry, I'm late. I had to stop by the infirmary to get a couple of pain killers for this damn hangover."

John just smirks at him. "Had a little to much to drink last night?"

"Yeah. Of coarse you don't know, because you never came back."

"Sorry about that. I kind of ended up in my room."

"See, I knew it."

"Knew what, Rodney?" John asked as he and Rodney put their RC Cars down and started to race them.

"That you ended back in your room. Everyone kept implying that you didn't come back because, well, you and Dara."

"What about me and Dara?"

"What do you think?" Rodney happen to glance over at John at that moment. That was when he noticed that his Kirk Smirk appeared on his face. "You didn't!"

John just smiles as he continued on racing. "I don't know what you're talking about, Rodney."

Rodney just puts down is remote and his shoulders slump down. "I think I'm going to be sick."  


* * *

  
Kimberley sat on the bench as she watched Dara and Teyla spar, or more along the lines, Teyla kicking Dara's butt.

"How was your night, after you left?" Teyla asked as she casually knocked her sticks against Dara's.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dara replies normally as best as she could, while Kimberley smirked from her spot.

"Oh really," Teyla says. She takes another swing, causing Dara to block, only to open up another spot for Teyla. Taking her sticks she sweeps them behind Dara's legs, causing her to knock Dara flat on her back.

"Really," Dara managed to reply between her shortness of breath.

Teyla reaches down and offers Dara her hand. Dara looks at it for a moment, then takes it. After helping Dara up, Teyla smiles. "Another round?"

Sighing, then shrugging her shoulders, Dara says, "Sure."

Kimberley watched as Teyla and Dara went one more at sparring. As Teyla kicked Dara's butt one more time, Kimberley clapped for them. "That was fun and all, but I have a better idea."

"That would be?" Dara asked as she got up from the mat.

"Something more girly!"

Dara raises an eyebrow towards Kimberley and mutters, "I'm going to hate this idea."

* * *

Dara leaned back and sighed contently. "Okay, I lied. I like this idea."

"I figured you would," Kimberley replied as she painted Dara's nails. "When it comes to acting like a girl, you do it when it comes to taking care of your nails."

"Please tell me we are not drinking more alcohol?" Jennifer asked Kimberley as Miko and Amelia entered the room with crates of glass bottles.

"What? No!" Kimberley shook her head. "These are different types of pop. Mainly from Michigan, but I got a bunch form the UK. Figured we could do a soft drinks night, to balance up last night."

"Smart move." Jennifer nodded, moving to stand up and help the girls.

"Could someone open the door please?" A muffled males voice asked from ther other side of the door.

"Oh!" Kimberley grinned, motining for the girls to dump the crates on the couch, causing Teyla to bounce. She looked to the opening the door and smiled to Rotella. "Cheers Scott!"

"You're welcome Kimberley, just remember to bring the plates back this time." Scott replrimanded her, leaving with a nod to the rest of the females.

"You know, he is rather cute." Jennifer replied once he left.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"What?" She blinked.

"I thought you fancied Rodders?" Kimberley asked, palcing the plates down on a table.

Dara moved to space the food out, swipping a mini sausage as she took the cling wrap off. "Its up to her weather not she likes someone else. We can't intervene."

"But canon!" Kimberley whinned, then stepped back at Daras glare. "She is a mature adult, she can make her own mistakes."

Dara glared ever harder.

"I'm just saying!" Kimberley threw her hands up. "If he gave up Katie for her, then they should get together!"

"Out. Now." Dara pointed to the door, then frog marched Kimberley out. "Go, do something! Anything!"

"what? Why can't I stay?" Kimberely whinned.

"Because the alcohol is still in your system and you can't keep your mouth shut." dara glared. "Now go!"

Grumbling Kimberley nodded and left.  


* * *

  
John finally caught up to Ronon, at their usual pit stop on their run path. "So, what happened after that?" Ronon asks John.

"She smacked me."

"She smacked you?"

"Yeah. It really hurt."

"You did kind of deserve it."

"You're suppose to be on my side. You know, we men have to stick together."

"Sorry, Sheppard. I'm going with Dara on this. I stick with people that try and take me on drinking, even if they know they can't keep up."

"I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"Nope."

John sighs, then takes a sip of his water. "Come on. If we make it back in time, we can catch the movie they'll be showing."

"That would be?"

"The Punisher: War Zone. Trust me, you'll like it," John says as he starts off without Ronon.

"Whatever," Ronon replied, then easily passes John.  


* * *

  
Dara had managed to get a free moment from Kimberley. Mostly because of the fact that Carson asked her to lunch. As Dara walked through the halls, mostly trying to find something to distract her mind.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she runs into Col. Samantha Carter. "Oh! Sorry, Ma'am."

"Not a problem. Call me Sam. It's both our days off."

"Okay, Sam." Dara followed along side her for a moment, when she decides to ask her something. "So, what do you do on your days off?"

"Normally I work on my motorcycle, but since it really has no use on Atlantis..."

"You can't do that here."

"Yeah. So, I was going to work on a Naquadah Generator."

"Oh," Dara says.

"Yeah, I know. A little to much work on down time, but it's relaxing. Would you like to help out?"

"Ummm..." Dara thinks for a second and shrugs her shoulders. "Why not. I might learn something useful."

Sam's face splits into a smile. "That's the spirit." As they walked towards the storage room where one of the spare Naquadah Generators were kept. "Oh, I meant to ask you, how was your night?"

"Seriously! Does everyone have to ask me that! JEEZE!"

Sam just stops and looks at Dara.

Dara stops, turns to look back at Sam, and blinks. "What?"

"Is there something I don't know or something happened?"

Dara's face gets really flushed and puts her head in her hands. "I'm such an idiot," she mumbles out.  


* * *

  
"I'm sorry I dragged you away from Dara," Carson says apologetically.

"That's not a problem," Kimberley says with a slight blush.

"No, I know she promised you a girl's day and I'm making her break it."

"Nonono. I kind of forced it on her. Not to mention we spend a lot of time together anyways. It'll be good for her."

"It'll be good for her?"

"Okay, it was what she said, mostly trying to not make me feel guilty."

"I'm really, terriblely, sorry."

"No, don't worry about it." Kimberley smiles a little. "Besides, she would probably kill me by the end of the day anyways. Especially on how her day started out today, anyways."

Carson stops and looks at Kimberley. "How did her day start out?"

"You should ask her, when you get a chance," Kimberley says with a large Cheshire cat grin.

"You know, you are truly evil."

"Thank you."  


* * *

  
From the corner of her eye, Sam watched Dara, as she swung her legs back and forth. Dara leans back, resting her elbows on the table and sighs. "And that's what happened when I woke up."

Sam makes a face as she pulls away from the Naquadah Generator. "Hmmm, wow. That must have been difficult."

Dara sighs very loudly. "You're telling me!" Looking over towards Sam, she takes in a deep breath and asks, "What should I do?"

"You're asking me?"

Dara nods and says, "Yeah, because I don't know what to do in this situation."

"Well, you're not military personal. You're not even from this reality. So, I don't think I have the authority to do anything."

"Ahh, yes, but you do. I do sometimes go off world with the team and that could make it... complicated."

"You could still go off world with them. If you don't think you could handle it, I can always pull you off." Sam leans back and points to a pair of needle nose pliers. "Can you hand me them?"

Dara leans forward and snags them off the other table. Bring them back, she places them in Sam's hand. "Here. Anyways, how can you trust the fact that I even begin to handle it?"

"Trust me. I've kind of experienced first hand before. You may not be military, but you're strong in all the areas it counts. I think you can do it."

Dara sits back and smiles. "Thanks. I appreciate that fact, Sam."  


* * *

  
Kimberley sighed and tugged at her hair. She managed to talk Dara into leaving her alone. Sure, Kimberley had talked her into hanging out all day, trying to make it a girls' day out, but the day was winding down.

Kimberley's mind though, kept going back to what happened to her last night and this morning. She was pretty sure, now, that she made fool out of herself. She knew it was a little emo, but she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. She was almost half tempted to go and grab the 190 proof Everclear that Dara had hidden for Ronon's birthday.

Her door then chimes, pulling her out of her dark thoughts. "Coming!" Trotting over to the door, she makes it open, only to surprise herself. "Carson. Hi! Can I help you?" Without any warning, Carson steps in, tilts his head down, and starts to kiss her passionately. After what seemed like an infinite moment of bliss, Carson breaks it off, leaving Kimberley standing there breathless for a second. Another second after that, she manages to gather her thoughts long enough to ask, "What was that?"

"Something I should have started this morning."

"Started?"

Carson smiles and goes in for another round, this time Kimberley completely joined him.

* * *

Kimberley cuddled up closer to Carson and sighs, as he stroked a Bit of her hair. "About time."

"Aye," was all Carson said, happily.  


* * *

  
As the day began to wind down, John sat in his room, reading one of his pages from his "War and Peace" book. He managed to get half way down the page, when the chimes of his door went off. Carefully, he marks his place and goes over to the door. He swipes his hand over the crystals and gets a surprised when the door opens.

"Hi, John. Can I come in?" Dara asks.

"Uh, yeah." He looks around to make sure everything was in order.

Dara stood in the middle of his room and watched him move around, mostly to straighten up. Finally he stops and looks at Dara. "Umm, sorry about earlier."

Dara just shakes her head. "No, I'm sorry. I think part of my anger was the fact that I had to get completely blitzed in order to open up."

"What?" John drops his book, in complete surprised, causing it to make a loud bang on the floor.

"Basically, what I'm saying is this," Dara says, just before she leans up and kisses him.

* * *

John and Dara laid on floor, covered up with his sheets, and his room a complete mess. "Holy shit! Now, that was actually mind blowing!" John exclaimed.


	20. The Fear of Losing What is Yours

"Do you really have to move out?" Kimberley asked as she watched Dara pack the last of her items in a box.

"Kimberley! For crying out loud. I'll still be in Atlantis. Sure, I won't be in the same 'apartment', but you can still see me."

"But, I kind of like having you here. What if something happened or..."

"Here!" Dara exclaims as she pulls out her old cell phone from her pocket. She lightly tosses it on the extra set of pillows on the bed. "Should I ever spend the night, I'll have an alarm clock for in here. That way, I haven't completely moved out."

About that time, Ronon walks in and looks at the last couple of boxes, sitting in the corner. "That it?" he asks as he points at them.

"Yeah," Dara says towards him with a smile.

Picking up two of them, he turns and heads out of the room, to almost run into John. "Sorry, about that," he says, as he swings around him and continues on.

"Not a problem!" John hollers out. Turning back around he sees just two of them left, and the one Dara had. Carefully he picks up one, and starts to head out.

"Kimberley, can you lift that one on top of this one?" John hears Dara asks.

Turning back around, John says, "Here, let me get that."

"Are you sure?" Dara asks. "I don't want you to strain yourself."

"You were about too. Why shouldn't I?"

"Because of the fact it's my crap," Dara responds.

"Yeah, well, I don't think you should be doing all that heavy lifting. It's not good for your back."

"If it's not good for mine, what makes you think it'll be any better for yours?"

"Taller frame."

Dara rolls her eyes and mutters, "Whatever." With that she takes off towards her new room.

John watched as Kimberley shrugs then puts the box on top of the other one he was holding. "Thanks, Kimberley," he says, just before he leave the room.

Blinking in confusion, Kimberley stares at the empty spot that John was just at. "Did he just thank me?"

* * *

As John walked into Dara's new room, he seen Ronon with his arm around Dara's shoulders. Putting the boxes down, he looks at them, then says, "Alright, I think that's everything."

"Thanks, John. I can take it from here." Turning, she jabs Ronon in the side, making him jump away from her, with a smile. "And you, I'll see you later."

"Don't be late," Ronon says with a smirk, just as he walks out of the room.

John looks at the door, then back at Dara, who was now unpacking on of her boxes. "What was that about?"

"What was what?"

"You and Ronon, just now."

Dara just raises an eyebrow towards him. "None of your damn business, that's what."

Sighing, John figures it was best not to tick her off. "Okay, okay."

Turning, he goes to leave, when Dara says, "John, wait."

Stopping at the door way, he turns, just as she gets right next to him. "Yes?"

She wraps her arms around his neck and gives him a quick kiss. "Are you coming over later tonight?" she asks quietly.

"You still want me to come?"

Raising her eyebrow again, she says, "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I? Still have to break in the new bed and what not."

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he smiles. "Why not now."

Getting a coy smile, Dara says, "Tempting." Then releasing her arms, she steps away and goes back to one of her boxes. "But, no. I have a lot of stuff to do, if I want to be done before dark."

Sighing, John felt a little denied, but decided not to push it. "I'll see you later tonight then."

She turns back towards him and gives him a smile. "Tonight, then."

* * *

John had worked for a few hours, mostly catching up on his mission reports. Finally around lunch time, his stomach began to growl, letting him know it was time to eat.

Upon arriving at the mess hall, he made his way through the lunch line. He did stop and look behind him, when he heard Dara's laugh. There she sat, with Ronon across the table, laughing at something he said. Grabbing a few items to eat, he heads over to their table and sits down next to Dara. "Did I miss something funny?"

"No, no," Dara says.

Ronon gets up and grabs his tray. "Hey, don't leave on my account," John says.

"I'm not. I'm done."

"Oh."

"See you in about an hour," Ronon says towards Dara.

"Yup, in an hour," she says back, with a smile.

* * *

John felt Dara snuggle closer to him. Trying as he might, he couldn't quite get the thoughts of Dara and Ronon out of his head. Finally, not controlling his brain, he went against he's better judgement. "Hey, Dara."

"Yeah?"

"So, what did Ronon and you do earlier today?"

Dara leans up, mostly to get a better look at him. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just curious."

"Well, it's none of your business."

"Why won't you tell me?"

Dara flops down on the bed, next to him. "Why do you even really need to know?"

John just lays there, not even responding. Which after a minute he receives a prompt kick in the ribs, which shoves him off the bed. Sitting up, he looks at Dara's back side and asks, "What was that for?"

"Here," she says roughly, as she throws his clothes in his face. "Get out of my room!"

"What? Why?"

Holding up the covers, so he really couldn't see anything, she glares at him. "If you haven't figured it out, then I'm not going to talk to you about it!"

John watched as she got dressed really quick, quicker than he thought was possible for her. He just barely managed to get his pants on, when she promptly grabbed his arm, lead him to the door and threw him out of her room. Standing there starring, he couldn't believe what just happened. "Doesn't act like a woman at all, except for that right there."

* * *

John makes his way through the mess hall and makes his way to the buffet line. Once he got his food, he makes his way over to his usual table. Sitting down, he begins to eat his food. He sees Dara stop when she notices that he was sitting at the usual table. Giving him this evil like look, she turns and finds another table to sit at. Sighing, he was hoping that a good night sleep she would be in a better mood and be at least a little willing to listen to him.

Sighing, he sits back a little, trying to think of some sort of plan to atleast get Dara to listen to him. He was so deep in thought, that he jumped in surprise, when Kimberley poked him. "Heya!"

"Don't do that. About gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry." Kimberley then glances over to where John was looking at then back at him. "So, uh, what's going on with you and Dara? I've never seen her so mad at you."

"Nothing."

Kimberley gives him this look, like he was lying through his teeth. "Yeah, sure. I have an idea!"

It John's turn to now give her a look, though it was a look of horror. "I don't think I'm going to like this!"

"No, no, no. Trust me on this."

John could almost feel the pit in his stomach getting bigger after those two little words. "This already sounds like a bad idea."

"I'm going to help you get Dara back."

Raising an eyebrow towards her, he manages to say, "I don't think I need your help."

"Are you kidding me! She is royally ticked off at you. You'll be lucky if she doesn't stab you in your sleep."

Figuring that no matter how much he tells her no, she was going to do it anyway. Sighing, he just says, "Fine, but don't make the plan or plans to crazy."

"Are you kidding! I don't do normal and Dara doesn't respond to normal!"

Putting his head into his hands, he groans. He's going to be in a lot of trouble, either way he looks at it.

* * *

John had managed to get away from Kimberley for the day. Mostly he sited the fact that he had to work on some mission reports. He then proceed to offer Kimberley some of the load, so that way they could get it done faster and work on any of her plans. To his horror, it almost back fired when she agreed to help him. Trying, he mention something about a lot of paper work needing to be done. He was amazed that her response was a leg twitch, then she turned and walked away, quickly. He figured he had about an hour, two tops, before Kimberley came back. Quickly coming up with a plan on his own, he takes off down one of the many corridors that he knew Ronon frequently traveled.

As he rounded one of the corners, he stops, then backs up. Peeking around the corner, he watched as Dara and Ronon walked to where ever they were going. Thinking he could follow them and figure out what the were up too, he quietly and slowly began to follow them. As he rounded the last corner that they had just rounded, he stopped completely in his tracks, when they were standing there, starring at him.

"I told you, we had a stalker," Dara says towards Ronon.

"You're right. He does have a slight squeak in his shoe, when he walks," Ronon replied back.

"Oh, hey. I was trying to catch up with you two."

Dara rolls her eyes and says, "Please! You could have caught up to us about two corridors ago."

"Maybe I didn't feel like running, to catch up with you two."

Sighing, Dara rubs at her eyes. "I don't think I can even handle you today." Turning, she begins to walk away, before she speaks up. "You can do whatever you want with him, Ronon."

Ronon turns and gives John an evil smile. "Look, listen buddy. I don't want any trouble. I'll just go this way and you can continue on your way." Still smiling, he takes a step towards John. Without a second thought, John turns and runs at full speed away from Ronon.

* * *

John sat at the mess hall table, starring at his lunch. He finally had to admit to the fact that he was a little down because of the fact Dara spent more time with Ronon, than him. Not to mention, his arm did hurt a little from the fact that Ronon punched him there. As he sat there, mulling over what to do, Kimberley sits down across from him. "So, what's on the agenda now?"

"Nothing."

"Wait, what? You can't just give up like that. What about if I get Ronon away from her and you grab her and then I'll lock you both in a closet?" John raises an eyebrow towards Kimberley. "What?"

"That was my idea."

"Really? Then let's do it!"

John just shakes his head towards her. "Nah. I give up."

"WHAT?" Kimberley stands up, amazed by that simple fact that ran through her head. "You can't give up like that!"

"Kimberley."

"What?"

"Sit down," John says as he indicates to the seat. He watched as she slowly sat down in the chair. "I'm not giving up. I'm just taking a break for the rest of the night."

"Oh." Then without warning, she gives off a big smile. "Well, I have some ideas, but first, I need to know what happened."

Now wondering what she was up to, he tried to resist, but the curiosity got the better of him. "What do you mean?"

"Questions, Silly!"

* * *

John was starting to get a headache, badly. He suspected it had something to do with Kimberley and her constant questions. If it wasn't her asking about how he ticked Dara off, it was how to get Dara to stop being mad at him. He was finally able to shake her off, when he told her he didn't feel good.

As he made his way to the infirmary, his thoughts went over the rest of today's new plans. Mostly he did it to see if he could find ways to veto them down.

He must have one major headache, because he wasn't thinking clearly. All he had to do was get some pain killers for his arm and his headache, then go to bed for the rest of the night.

Making his way into the infirmary, he stops at the sight of Ronon laying on a gurney, getting his leg stitched up. Curious on what happened, he turns towards Ronon and goes over to his side. "Hey, buddy!"

"Hey."

"What happened?"

"I got shot."

"I kind of see that. Are you going to tell me how?"

Ronon looks at him and shakes his head. "Sorry. I can't. You should talk to Dara."

Sighing, John runs his hand through his hair. "I can't. She won't let me."

"Hey!" Ronon says loud enough to get his attention. When John finally actually looked at Ronon, he continued on. "She's like a little sister to me. That's all."

"That's all?"

"That's all."

Slowly a big smile appears on John's face. "Thanks, Ronon."

* * *

John swiped his hand over the crystals, outside Dara's door. He could hear the sound of the chimes going off in her room. He was hoping that she was there, mostly because he didn't think it would be wise to have Chuck track her down. After a minute, there was a sound of foot steps coming towards the door. When the door opened up, Dara stood there looking at him. It almost looked like she wanted to be mad at him, but she couldn't. "What do you want, John?" she asked, somehow faking the anger into her voice.

"Look, I'm sorry."

He watched as her eyes narrowed at him. "For what?"

"I'm sorry for not trusting you. I should have known better that you wouldn't cheat on me."

"You're damn straight."

"Look, you have to look at it from my point of view."

"That is?"

"I just got you. I was afraid of losing a great girl like you."

Dara rolls her eyes, turns around and walks into her room. "Laying it on a little thick there."

"Okay, so maybe a little. I will admit though, I was jealous."

Dara sits down on her bed and looks at him. "You, jealous? You, Captain Kirk?"

Not liking where this conversation was going, John decided to change the subject. "What were you doing with Ronon? Don't tell me it's none of my business. Whatever you two where doing, it involved him getting shot in the leg, which means I'll find out by reading an incident report. I would just like to hear it from you."

Sighing, Dara looks at him and gives off a small smile. "Well, I figured if I was going to live here and what not, I figured Ronon could train me in getting a much better and faster aim."

John sits down next to her and smiles. "I could have done that."

"Yeah," Dara says as she smiles back. "You would have been hitting on me more though. I wanted to spend more time training, instead of making out."

"Okay, so Ronon getting shot in the leg was you?"

Shaking her head, she says, "No. That was one of the new scientists that arrived recently. Evan was trying to teach them hand gun basics when Dr. Rivera freaked out and forgot a couple of basics. To make a story short, the bullet ricocheted and got Ronon in the leg."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So," John says as a thought crossed his mind. "How good are you, so far?"

"I'm pretty good now. Just a little behind Ronon's score."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

John sat there, trying to think of something, anything to break the silence that hung over them. "So, are we done fighting?"

"No," Dara calmly replies. John turns and looks at her, amazed by the fact that she could hold a grudge this badly. Without warning, Dara starts to kiss him. Once they separated, Dara smiles at him. "I hear that Make-Up Sex is great."


	21. Till Death Do Us Huh?

Kimberley giggled to herself as she looked over the plans once more.

"Are you almost ready?" Zelenka asked her, looking up from the schedule sheet in front of him. 'Her laughter is beginning to unnerve me.'

"Yup." Kimberley nodded and pointed to her plans. "Stage one is getting everyone under. Stage two is getting the outfits out of storage."

"Stage three is putting everyone in their outfits." Radek continued.

"Stage four is getting the pictures and stuff made, stage five is putting everyone back in either their original or compromising positions, and Stage six is making sure I don't get caught." Kimberley finished.

"What about myself?" Zelenka nearly pouted.

"Every woman for herself Z." Kimberley continued to giggle.

"So I will meet you tonight?" Zelenka asked once Kimberley had returned to her lever of normal.

Kimberley nodded, rubbing her hands together in glee, laughing again at the thought of their plan.

'I best leave her to it.' Radek thought to himself and left the small meeting room, and the Scottish girls cackles, behind.

o0o

As night fell on Atlantis Kimberley bid Dara good night, crossing the lounge that connected their rooms to enter her own. Quickly she looked for her iPod, slipping it into her pocket and grabbed the headphones from her bedside cabinet.

"Kimberley, are you almost ready?" Zelenka asked through the radio.

"Almost Radek, do you need headphones, or an iPod?" She asked, grabbing the second one in case.

"No I have one." He replied, then made a 'huh' sound. "Actually, could I borrow one; mine has just died on me."

"Sure thing Radek." Kimberley smiled to him.

"You are smiling, aren't you." Radek sighed over the airways.

Kimberley giggled and nodded, replying vocally before checking she had the bare minimum that she needed and exiting her room, walking the long way to the off limits lab.

"You can't go in there." Evan blocked Kimberley's entrance to the forbidden lab. "Serious Kims, it's off limits."

"I know it's off limits." Kimberley rolled her eyes and stuck a hand on her hip. "I was the one that turned it off last Christmas, remember?"

"Wait, you were Santa?" Evan asked his face lighting up. "Thank you so much for the new easel and art supplies; the paints from the Athosians were great, but real paint was just, excellent."

"Don't tell anyone." She hissed, but a smile still fell onto her lips. "But I left one of my note books in there, it had my list Christmas gifts at the back, my Ancient to English alphabet, and some erm, personal writings at the front."

"I'll go get it." He said and moved to go inside, pausing as Kimberley grabbed his arm.

"Actually, Evan, could I get it? If it were to fall open and you accidentally read it, I would die from mortification." Kimberley looked hopeful.

Radek appeared behind them. "I will accompany Kimberley in and make sure that she doesn't touch what she is not supposed to."

"Hey!" Kimberley mock glared at the scientist.

"Sure thing doc." Evan agreed and moved away from the door.

Kimberley walked in first, with Zelenka coming in at her back. Evan watched them until Kimberley picked up a book from the floor. 'Huh, never noticed it before.'

Evan then watched as Kimberley handed Zelenka a black object and then nod to Zelenka, who nodded back and put on the earphones connected to the device.

Kimberley put her own set of head phones on reached over, pressing a button that Evan remembered Kavanaugh pressing before everyone went night night.

"Wait stop!" He shouted, and then blinked as everything became very heavy. His body was tired, his brain was slowing down, and the floor sure looked comfy.

Kimberley watched Evan slowly slink to the ground before hugging his P90 like a teddy bear.

"Ghha." She whispered and moved closer, taking the gun from him and replacing it with his backpack. Turning to Radek, she smiled. "What cha listening to?"

"Girls just want to have fun." He replied.

"Ah, okay." Kimberley nodded. "So you know what to do right?"

Instead of replying Radek opened the channel to his earpiece. "Control room, this is Doctor Zelenka, I heard a whine, is everything alright?"

"This is the control room, someone's turned the-" Rodney paused to yawn. "Device on. I really should turn it of but."

The sound of Rodney sliding off his chair and onto the floor with a thump. Kimberley winced and hoped it would not leave a mark as she pressed her own earpiece. "Dara, are you up?"

There was silence.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and grabbed her cell phone. After scrolling down the contacts list, she pressed 'CALL' at Daras number.

As it rang out, and continued to do so, she nodded to Radek. "Dara is either in the shower, ignoring me or out of it."

'What are the chances it is the second one?' Radek thought for a second, and then nodded. "Once ten minutes has past the entirety of the expedition will be under the machines control."

"Lets get this done as fast as possible, I don't want to have to slap everyone awake because the Wraith decide to attack." Kimberley touched her head then the wooden charm on her bracelet before moving out, heading to the secondary puddle jumper bay.

o0o

Once inside the parking area that was safe from meddling hands such as Rodney McKay, Kimberley opened up Daras puddle jumper and waved Radek on.

'I have a great sense of foreboding being on this ship.' Radek shivered, watching Kimberley open every odd hatch before turning back to them and grabbing the items stuffed inside. "Why are you doing this?"

"Believe it or not, it's to help Dara." Kimberley paused to look at him. "We had a conversation the other day, and this way, if John doesn't care for her, like really care for her as in he will stay alive for her, then she can always pass it off as a joke."

_Kimberley sat in her room, slowly drawing away on the data pad as her door was knocked. Barely lifting her head, she called out. "Come in."_

_Dara entered the room and sat on Kimberleys swivel chair, not noticing that her friend wasn't moaning that she was twirling around in it. "What are you doing?"_

_Kimberley jumped as though she had just realized Dara was in the room, causing the data pad to fly through the air._

_Dara stretched a little and grabbed the data pad before it landed on the ground. Glancing at the screen, she looked confused. "What are you trying to do, write with you feet?"_

_Kimberley snatched back her borrowed data pad. "No, it's my diary."_

_"Yes, let's write a diary on a planet full of tech savvy uber geeks. Why not just keep a paper copy, they would never think of that." Dara rolled her eyes. "And I knew your writing wasn't that good, but jeez."_

_"It's in Wraith, and knowing my luck, it would be the first thing they'd find." Kimberley whispered to her. "You know there are only a select few individuals that can translate Wraith into English, and their vocab usually consists of 'danger', 'ancients' and 'kill all humans'."_

_"True." Dara nodded._

_After a few minutes silence Kimberley looked up at Dara. "What's up?"_

_"Nothing." She shrugged. "Just wondered how you and Carson were getting on?"_

_Kimberley blushed beat red._

_"Oh my God you did!" Dara yelled and stood up._

_"Ssh!" Kimberley demanded. "At least I remembered everything, Miss Shephead."_

_Dara sat back on the chair and shrugged._

_"You okay?" Kimberley asked, placing a hand on her friends' foot._

_Dara shrugged. "Yeah, just a little...I dunno."_

_"Worried, shocked, unsure if John is the one or if he's just keeping you around to keep his bed warm, put your name on his bed post or is just Kirking around with you?" Kimberley replied, and then looked at her friend._

_Daras face hadn't changed, but there was something in her eyes._

_"You aren't seriously worrying over Shephead are you!" Kimberley demanded._

_"It's not like with Carson. Everyone knows he likes you." Dara pointed out._

_"Yes, thank you Captain Operation." Kimberley rolled her eyes. "But seriously, are you a pod person?"_

_"Wait, what?" Dara asked, unsure what her friend was getting at._

_"You, Dara B, are worrying about John Sheppard, a guy that you've been beating up for years now." Kimberley pointed out._

_"I'm not worried about him." Dara replied shortly._

_"But-"_

_"Look, just drop it okay, I-never mind." Dara stood up to leave, but Kimberley was faster and put her arms out._

_"No, out with it!" She demanded. "This friendship goes both ways, I overload you with my crap, you can share some of yours."_

_"It's stupid." Dara shrugged, leaning on her bed frame._

_"If it's your thoughts then it ain't stupid." Kimberley pointed out._

_"I just, I." Dara paused, looking over the photograph of Dara flipping the bird to the camera, and arm over Kimberley's shoulder as the girls laughed at Sheppard being hit by the pie on Thanks Giving. "I think I might, I dunno, maybe like Sheppard, a little."_

_Kimberley stared at her, arms dropping to her side. "Dara say what now?"_

_"You know what; I'm feeling a little under the weather. Yeah that's it! I'm ill!" Dara nodded to Kimberley, who was still looking at her friend like she just said she was getting married to an Iratus bug. "Well, I-maybe, yeah, I'm going to go see Doctor Baxter, I think I'm having a mental break down."_

_"BAXTER!" Kimberley nearly yelled._

_"Kimberley, think about what I've been saying." Dara placed her hands on her shoulders. "It sounds like I have seriously snapped, so I'm going to go check my self in before I do any damage. Bye."_

_"But-but!" Kimberley stuttered, watching her friend leave. "Huh?"_

"Does she know this?" Radek asked.

"Well no, but I'll tell her if the merde hits the fan." Kimberley smiled at him. "But I'm not expecting it do."

After several minutes of bagging Kimberley sorted the piles into, at first two piles, then five piles within each.

"I only want them to be under for the shortest time possible, so we need to split up." Kimberley explained. "I'll take the females, you take the males. I've split the outfits; they have the persons name on it, into Scientists, Military, Civilian, Alien and Medical."

As Radek bent down to pick up the bag for military, the only pile with one thing, he frowned at it.

"Well, Military people usually attend in their dress blues and what not, yeah?" Kimberley nodded to him. "So dress them in that."

"Who is the suit for? It does not have a name." Radek asked.

Kimberley turned to him to answer, but by looking at him she didn't spot the plushie monkey falling from the bin she was routing through. It bopped her on the head, then fell to the ground. Frowning she picked it up and looked at it. 'It's a monkey, I don't have any monkeys, I wonder if it's Daras?'

Radek watched as she played with the monkeys Velcro hands, then as she shrugged and walked over to the mirror on the HUD and clamped it on.

"Who is the suit for?" Radek repeated.

"Ronon." Kimberley grinned.

"Here you are." He spoke roughly.

Kimberley eeped and spun around, jumping to hide behind Radek as Ronon made his way into the puddle jumper. "Ronon!"

"What ever you're planning, stop using the machine." He seemed as though he was going to sit down but stopped at the last second.

"You don't look so good, maybe you should, sit, down." Kimberley placed her hands on Ronons shoulder and, using skills in a job left to go to Atlantis, helped him to sit down on the bench.

Ronon struggled and tried to stand up, so Kimberley grabbed his wrists. "Chill Ronon, it'll only be for an hour or four."

Ronon continued to struggle and stood up, causing Kimberley to swap her hand over his wrists and hold them crisscrossed.

The Sedetan blinked rapidly to stop the sleep over coming him. "When I wake up I'm going to get back at you."

"Well, you'll need to get in line." Kimberley struggled but he finally sat back down, relaxing after one last glare. Kimberley took her hands off of his wrists and moved to the side, poking him to make sure he was asleep.

"I will meet you back here in an hour's time." Radek spoke quietly in her earpiece and Kimberley nodded.

o0o

An hour later Radek had radioed Kimberley to hell her he had just the medical department and John to change. Kimberley told him she only had Dara, Cadman, Carter and Teyla to change.

Kimberley looked at the puke brown bridesmaid dresses before rolling her eyes in disgust. This prank would cost Kimberley either her life, or her limbs. 'It'll be worth it though.'

The deranged lunatic grinned even more as no one, not even Radek, really knew what she was up to.

Entering Teylas quarters Kimberley felt a pang of guilt at the site of Torren lying on his cot, Teyla lying with one had on the cot, the other on Kanaans face. Secretly hoping that Teyla was already sleeping when the machine kicked in Kimberley closed the door and set to work, slipping the dress over Teylas clothes and slipping the shoes on her feet.

As with everyone else Kimberley dragged them onto a gurney and then transported them through the hallways to the gate room.

After dropped Teyla off next to Jennifer Keller Kimberley debated for a second then decided to leave Torren and Kanaan alone; if Teyla wasn't annoyed yet, she soon would be.

o0o

Twenty minutes later Kimberley had two dresses left and couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

"When are you going to get changed?" Radek asked as he met her at the gate room, Rodney being dragged behind him down the stairs.

'Ah! That takes care of one of the dresses...' "I have Dara to get changed and figure out who this last dress belongs to." Kimberley paused in thought.

Radek thought about it and voice the females he knew were involved. "Have you dressed Doctor Keller, Lt Cadman, Teyla, Amelia, Miko, Col. Carter-"

"Ah ha! Col. Carter!" Kimberley threw her hand in the air, narrowly missing Chucks head as he finally slipped of his chair. "She's in her dress blues."

"So one dress is your own, and where is Daras?" Radek asked.

"Hidden." Was all that Kimberley would say. "Is John ready yet?"

"I can not find him." Radek sighed.

"Did you try the shooting range? Golf area, mess hall, his quarters, the jumper bay, training rooms, rec rooms, infirmary?" Kimberley ran out of places.

"I have not checked the infirmary." Radek shook his head, and then spotted the gurney. He pointed to it.

Kimberley laughed nervously. "You know I don't like the transporters."

Radek smiled to her and shook his head good-naturedly. "I will be checking out the infirmary."

"Just don't check in!" Kimberley giggled to him. 'And how he's looking at me like I'm insane again.'

With one last sigh, and after moving Rodney out of the way, Kimberley grabbed the gurney and made her way to the rooms that she and Dara occupied, by passing the transporters.

o0o

Kimberley knocked on the door, just in case Dara had gone to sleep with her Zune playing. After getting no response, she ran her hand over the control crystals, then again having the same result.

Rolling her eyes Kimberley popped the panel off carefully, and took on the first and middle crystals, putting the first one in the middle and the middle on at the top. After replacing the crystals she put the panel back on the door opened and slid her hand over it, having no luck.

With a sigh, Kimberley held her head, and then pressed her ear. "Radek!"

o0o

Minutes later Radek shook his head at Kimberley as he opened Daras door, turning at her shriek. "What is wrong?"

"I found John!" Kimberleys grin threatened to split her face.

"Are they in a compromising position?" Radek was unsure he wanted the answer.

"No!" Kimberley rolled her eyes. "But they are in the room together."

Radek poked his head in and looked at the two Earth Americans who were sitting beside one another, holding the other up on the bed. Johns hand has on Daras leg and her right arm was around him in a hug.

Or a chokehold, Kimberley and Radek never would find out.

"I will take the Col. to his room to get ready and meet you in the gate room in ten minutes." Radek nodded to Kimberley.

"If I'm not there could you stop by the infirmary and grab a bunch of IV poles?" She asked, walking with him out of the room.

Radek nodded and watched as she stood beside the couch and waited for him to leave before moving.

Using her body Kimberley moved the couch to the side of the room, picking up the shrink-wrapped dress from the floor.

As she walked back into the room Kimberley took off the wrapping off the dress, letting it fall to just above the floor. Kimberley looked at her friend, who had fallen back onto the bed and wondered how she was going to get the dress on her?

Ten minutes, three strings of English-Czech-Scottish and Ancient curse words and two almost crashes to the ground Dara was finally in the dress and Kimberley sighed, wiping her forehead from perspiration. 'I know there was a specific reason for picking this outfit, but its tightness to get into was not one of them!'

Grabbing Dara under her arms Kimberley hauled her onto the gurney and then propped her shoes on, opening the door before pushing her through the late night halls of Atlantis towards the gate room.

o0o

Inside the gate room Radek stood, wearing a suit, with a few dozen IV poles around him.

As he looked over everyone he counted them, hoping that they had everyone. 'Now everyone is here, I wonder how Kimberley is going to pull this off?'

As if by magic, Kimberley entered the gate room, Dara on the gurney in front of her. Radek looked over the sleeping woman and smiled. "You have excellent taste in dresses-what is that!"

Kimberley spun around, no easy feet wearing six-inch heels, and then turned to look at Radek. "What?"

His face showed his disgust. "That color is hideous on you."

"Oh, the dress." Kimberley breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand on the straight down bright off yellow colored dress. "Part of the plan."

Radek looked at her confused.

She sighed. "If I'm in a hideous dress, compared with everyone else, then she might not twig that it was me that set all this up."

"I see." Radek nodded slowly to the crazy lady. "However, there is one slight problem; how are you going to get them to stand?"

"Just leave that to me." She grinned and pulled a roll of duct tape from under the gurney.

'She's doing that evil laugh again.' Radek consciously moved away from her.

o0o

Daras head felt heavy, the last thing she could remember was trying to choke the breath out of John. She must be dreaming though.

Through her forcefully open eyes, she could see Kimberley taping an IV pole to Col. Carter and, using duct tape, tape a bible to her hands.

'What is she up to!' Dara wondered, letting sleep consume her once more.

o0o

John looked up from his dream, staring at Dara in a wedding dress.

His mind refused to focus on the fact the last time he saw Dara he was trying to put the moves on her and she was trying to kill him.

Instead, his eyes looked to the metal pole sticking between Col. Carter's shoulder blades and the bible in her hands.

Slowly his eyes began to close, but not before letting his mouth fall into a smile.

o0o

Radek fiddled with his collar as Kimberley set up the camera.

Dara and John, held up by the IV poles, were leaning into one another, their faces turned towards each other and eyes closed. The females that were close to the couple were on the left and the men where on the right.

"I still do not get why I can not take the picture." Radek grumbled.

"Because silly, if we are not in a bunch of the photographs then they will know that we had something to do with it." Kimberley rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'silly goose!'

o0o

Radek looked completely uncomfortable as he held Daras leg towards John, who had his hands half way up her knee bringing her garter down.

"Smile Radek!" Kimberley called over to him. "If we're going to get killed then you might as well enjoy this!"

"Killed?" Radek dropped John, who fell to the ground with a thud. "I thought the worst would be sent to that planet."

"Probably." She shrugged her shoulders, then fixed the thin strap as it fell down. "Just, pick John up please, I'm almost done here."

"You have had them in every pose possible! There is no other way you can put them!" He replied, and then blushed. "Please tell me you are not-"

"No!" She shook her head. "No, just, I have two last poses that will mean I can die happily in eight hours."

Radek looked at her with a 'yeah, right!' expression on his face.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and motioned for him to pick John up again.

o0o

Inside Daras room Kimberley tapped the camera as she thought about how to get John to stay upright and not topple over as he held Dara in his arms and walked over the threshold.

"Why not have his back to the door?" Radek suggested.

"What about Dara?" Kimberley pondered.

"Have one hand taped to the door, the other around John's neck." He shrugged.

Slowly Kimberley turned to look at him, then withdrew a wrapped cookie from the yellow bag at her feet and handed it to Radek.

Radek looked at the cookie. "What is this for?"

Kimberley lowered her tone to speak menacingly. "Welcome to the dark side."

To Radek she just sounded even more insane.

o0o

"Where do you want them?" Radek asked, throwing his jacket onto the chair.

"On the bed." Kimberley casually replied.

"Excuse me?" He demanded and stood up straight.

"Not like that you perv!" Kimberley rolled her eyes, moving to grab Dara and drag her to the bed, tossing her on and moved her hands so they sat across her body. "Do you need a hand with Shephead?"

Radek replied by picking John up and placing him on the bed beside Dara.

Kimberley stared at him. "How that-what? That isn't even-"

"I am stronger than I look." Radek replied, fixing his glasses and smiled at the female. "If you do not need me for anything else, I would like to get back to my room and pretend that I had nothing to do with this!"

"With what?" Kimberley blinked at him.

"With this!" He threw his hands towards the bed where Dara and John slept peacefully.

"I repeat, with what?" Kimberley asked, looking at him pointedly.

"With-oh." Radek nodded then left.

Kimberley watched him leave and rolled her eyes. 'Guys are so thick sometimes!'

Turning to the couple on the bed, she loosened Johns tie and put his right hand on the space between him and Dara, laying his other hand across his stomach. Moving to Dara, she took her left hand and placed it on John's hand, and placed her other hand across her stomach.

Nipping to her room, she grabbed the ladders she had stashed and her bag. Standing in the room, she set the ladders up and routed through the bag for a piece of paper. After putting the paper beside John and Dara, whose faces had turned in their sleep to face each other, she quickly climbed the steps, took a picture of them before climbing back down, putting the steps and dragged them to a transporter.

Shoving them in she picked a random direction and jumped out before it could send her with them, and took the camera from Daras room.

Tapping her lip Kimberley wondered how to keep the contents of the camera safe. 'Hmm, who do I know that will help me and not turn me in at the first possible chance?'

o0o

Mack could feel his face being slapped, and could hear music in his ears. Blearily he looked up as he tried to bat away the person slapping his face.

Opening his eyes fully Mack glared at - "Miss Boyce?"

Kimberley would have groaned if she did not need his help. "Mack, can you do me a favor?"

"Uh, depends on what it is..." Mack trailed off, not liking the crazy look on her face.

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "I just need you to dial the gate for me."

"Uh sure." He replied, and moved to take the headphones off.

"Keep those on!" Kimberleys hands flew over his ears. "You need to keep them on."

"Why?" He asked.

"If I told you, I'd have to chuck you in the even horizon." She replied calmly.

Mack's eyes widened and he nodded in understanding.

o0o

"Hey, how come you can't use the Stargate yourself? You're quite good at computers." Mack asked as they walked towards the gate room.

"It's on my list." Kimberley shrugged.

"Excuse me?" Mack was confused.

"My list of things that I can not do unless I am the last one alive." She replied seriously.

o0o

After using Macks dialing skills to keep the negatives safe and the majority of Atlantis' printing capabilities, Kimberley took the earphones from Mack and watched him blink slowly, then slump to the floor in tiredness.

Kimberley made her way to the machine and turned it off, and popped her headphones off. 'Now to get some well deserved shut eye.'

Walking through Atlantis, she placed some of her handy work on the walls, the ceilings and across the balcony, making sure to email a copy to everyone on base before heading for a certain mans quarters.

'I think I've forgotten something.' Kimberley wondered, and then yawned. 'Aww well.'

o0o

Alarm clocks went off that morning, causing various individuals to panic.

John groaned and tried to borrow closer to the warmth coming from beside him, frowning as he felt his belt prod into something that felt like satin or silk. Slowly one of his hands trailed up and down Daras arm, his eyes open up to smile at her. "Morning."

"Ugh, morning breath." Dara pulled a face and turned from him, falling off the bed in the process. "What the hell!"

John dragged himself over the bed to look down at Dara and smirked. "Nice pyjamas."

"PJs?" Dara asked and looked down at her self. 'Holy crap I'm in a Wedding dress!'

"Why am I in my dress blues?" John asked, bringing Daras attention to him.

Daras eyes widened. "It better not have anything to do with the ring on your finger." 'Please no, please, please, PLEASE no!'

John quickly looked to his hand. "Not again."

"What do you mean not a-" Dara paused and looked at her hand. "You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!"

"Its might just be a joke." John tried to placate her, standing up and offering his hands to help her up. "It's not like there is anything to go along with it, like a video or-"

"A photograph and wedding certificate?" Daras voice went higher an octave, holding up the aforementioned items.

"Yeah like those-" John stared at Dara.

They looked to one another. 'How the hell did we get married?'

"The last thing I remember was trying to erm choke you." Dara pointed out.

John remembered. "I remember that too. Then I got really tired."

"Who would do such a-" Dara stopped speaking and her face grew furious. "Kimberley."

o0o

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

Dara slowly stalked towards the control room after exiting a transporter.

"Why is Dara in a wedding dress?" Chuck asked as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Because it would have taken too long to get changed." John explained, his suit jacket in his arms. "I need you to run a trace on Boyce's earpiece."

"I think its malfunctioning." Dara point out, moving away from the consol she was pounding the keys off. "Its says she in the psychiatrists office."

"Maybe she finally went and checked her self in." John shrugged.

"If she's checking in anywhere it'll be the infirmary!" Dara growled, turning to walk past him, grabbing his arm at the last second and dragged John behind her.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

o0o

Outside Doctor Baxter personal quarters, Dara stopped and glared at John. "Open it up."

"Why don't you?" He shot back.

"Because I'm going to kill Kimberley, I can't chance an electric shock." Dara replied with such seriousness that John paused.

"You know; it might not be her." He pointed out.

"Since when are you her biggest fan!" Dara snapped. "Now open the damn door so I can get in there and kill my best friend!"

"Yes ma'am." John nodded and got to work.

o0o

Kimberley hugged the warm body, a soft sigh passing her lips as they pressed a kiss to her shoulder. 'Carson.'

"You!" Someone yelled and Kimberley tried to ignore them.

The pillow under her head vanished and Kimberley looked up to see Dara and John fighting over a pillow.

"You can't suffocate her!" John yelled, and grabbed the pillow from the stunner female. 'That was too easy.'

"Good idea." Dara thanked him with a smile and turned to grab the pillow from under the males head.

"Oh crap!" Kimberley yelled, seeing Daras expression.

"That's right!" Dara grinned and stepped towards her. "And just you wait till I tell Carson where you spent the night."

"What, but Carsons right-there." Kimberley turner her head from Dara to glance at Carson and did a double take, scrambling backwards towards the person who was trying to kill her. "BAXTER IN THE BUFF!"

"Wait, what?" Dara deflated, looking down at the female who was holding her legs. "Loosing feeling Kims."

"Sorry." She replied and looked up at her, doing a double take. "Why are you in a wedding dress?"

"You mean-you didn't put me in this?" Dara asked.

"No." Kimberley replied and looked at John, then Dara. "Why would I put you in a wedding dress? Ohohohoh, are you getting married?"

"Either she's a really good actress, or she doesn't know." John pointed out.

"Ahem, excuse me but, what are you doing in my room?" Baxter asked, the quilt covering his naked body. "Are you looking for two witnesses for your wedding?"

"NO!" John and Dara yelled.

"Wait a minute, if it wasn't Kimberley, who could it have been?" Dara asked.

"Hey, is the idea of you guys married that much hideous to each other?" Kimberley asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"No, not really." John shrugged. "We don't exactly hate each other. I mean, I know I like Dara."

Dara blushed.

"Well, what's the problem?" Kimberley asked.

"The problem is that someone orchestrated all of this-" John waved his hand around in a wide gesture. "And put everyone in danger."

"And they put me in a dress." Dara pointed out.

"I think you look lovely." Three voices returned.

"Look, let's get to the bottom of this, eh?" John said and led them to the control room.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

o0o

Kimberley arrived at the gate room and looked around for John and Dara.

"Looking for Dara and John?" Chuck asked.

Kimberley nodded.

"They'll be about ten minutes." Carson explained as he stepped outside a transporter. "Hullo Kimberley."

"Hi Carson." Kimberley blushed and he kissed her cheek. "Nice sleep?"

Carson nodded. "I like your dress."

Kimberley looked down and made a face. "Oh God what am I wearing!"

"I think you pull it off." Carson smiled to her.

"I'm about to pull it off." Kimberley muttered.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

"Hark, I hear an angel tread!" Kimberley giggled at Amelia Banks description of Dara.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

Col. Carter entered the room the same time as John, Dara and Baxter. "Alright, bring up the cameras from last night, most of these photographs were taken in the gate room so we should know who the culprit is unless they turned the cameras off, even then they would need the right access codes and we can back track the video feed."

'Crap.' Kimberley panicked, her face paling and she swayed on her feet. 'Please tell me Radek turned the off, please!'

John watched her as Chuck and Rodney, who just woke up, started trawling through the previous night's footage.

Rodney's computer bleeped. "I've got it."

"Whose is it? Who do I kill?" Dara demanded.

Rodney looked up, a little afraid to answer.

"McKay! Answer me!" Dara demanded and stepped towards him.

"Kimberley! It was Kimberley!" He yelled.

"Wuss." Kimberley muttered.

Slowly Dara turned to look at Kimberley, who stepped back quickly.

Dara felt rage burning through her. With a glare that would scare the hairs off a lion, she began rushing towards Kimberley arms outstretched.

Kimberley began to run away, and then realized Daras dress meant that she was stuck in a Zombie walk.

Dara noticed this and tried to use her arms to compensate, swinging them as she pumped her legs.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

"I'm going to kill you Boyce!" Dara shouted at her.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

"Yeah, you and what speed, Sheva?" Kimberley giggled.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

Dara glared and moved her legs faster.

Shuffle, shuffle, RRRRRRRIP.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. Dara tested out her freed limbs and smirked over to Kimberley, her look of gloating turning to horror as her friends face became blanch with rage. 'Oh crap.'

Using her new speed, Dara hightailed it out of there, Kimberley fast on her tails.

John looked at his fake wife, and turned to Carson. "Two pound of coffee says my missus out runs your missus."

"In those heels? You're on." Carson grinned.


	22. Couples Theraphy

Dara stormed down the corridors of Atlantis, grabbing sheets of paper off the walls.

John caught up with her as she shredded them with her hands and placed them inside a bin bag marked 'Disposal: DANGEROUS'. "Isn't that a little over kill?"

"What would you have me do with them?" Dara turned to her prankee in kind and raised an eyebrow.

"Dump them in her room. Let her clean up her own mess." John shrugged, learning onto the wall.

"And give her the perfect opportunity to tape them back together?" Dara pointed out.

"Good point." He nodded his head. "Still it was fun though."

"No, no it wasn't." Dara cut him off.

"Yeah, it wasn't, not at all." He shook his head in agreement, smiling as she turned her back on him and walked away, thoughts carrying on inside his head of him, Dara, 2.4 kids and a nice safe puddle jumper away from the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies...

o0o

Hours later Dara was still annoyed. For every poster that she took down, two more would take its place. So far, she had enlisted the help of Ronon, Lorne, John and strangely enough Mack.

"Thanks for the help Mack." Dara smiled to him as he reached higher and grabbed another picture of her and John in the wedding clinch from the wall. "Although I gotta ask, why are you so eager to help?"

Mack, a seasoned captain in the United States Air force, blushed. "To make it up to you."

"Make it up-why do you need to make it up to me?" Dara paused and turned to look at him, suspicion clear in her eyes.

"I was the one to help Kimberley make all the posters, flyers and Christmas cards." Mack admitted.

"Posters- and- Christmas CARDS!" Dara nearly yelled.

"But you've got most of the posters!" Mack began to back away. "Only about, uh..."

"How many did you make?" Dara demanded.

"Well, when you say 'you'-"

"HOW MANY FREAKING THINGS DID YOU MAKE!" Mount Dara erupted.

Mack gulped. "About...1852."

"18-1852?" Dara paused to catch her breath and closed her eyes, then opened them and stepped closer to Mack. "What the hell possessed you to do that!"

Mack shied away from her rising fists, almost backing into Doctor Baxter. "I couldn't help it! She suckered me into it! It was her evil genius thought processes and the pleases and oh God Miss Baldwin, have you ever tried saying no to her? She's like a puppy you want to keep happy!"

"Haven't you LEARNED!" Dara seethed.

"Miss Baldwin-"

"Not now Doctor Baxter." Dara snapped to him.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm trying to make it up to you!" Mack replied, peaking through his hands to look at her.

Dara glared at him, and then sighed.

"I can tell you where everything is! I know where the negatives and back up negatives are!" Mack offered. "And the gate address to the originals!"

'Gate address to the-' Daras brain paused. She shook her head to try and clear it. "Okay Mack, I'll forgive you, this time."

"Oh thank you Miss Baldwin, thank you!" Mack grinned and leaned forward.

"Miss Baldwin!" Doctor Baxter raised his voice and Dara found herself turning to look at him. "Please, step into my office."

'What the hell does he want now?' Dara thought as she followed the psychiatrist into his den.

o0o

Kimberley looked up from her note book as the door fly open, Dara storming in with a worried Evan Lorne behind her.

"You-I-Baxter-Ohh!" Dara was far, far, far too angry to get proper sentences out, but continued to advance towards the younger girl, who looked up, eeped, then scrambled backwards behind the couch, trying to keep the crazy lady from her.

"Dara!" Kimberley exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" 'How did she find me?'

"You have your ear piece in." Dara spoke through clenched teeth.

"What are you so annoyed about?" Kimberley asked, a confused looked upon her face, but kept a safe distance. It wasn't a mile like she had hoped, but it would do.

"I just had a chat with the lovely" sarcasm dripped off of the very thought of the word "Doctor Baxter, about my violent tendencies towards the male members of the expedition."

"Okay?" Kimberley asked, not too sure what the problem was.

"He thinks I have daddy issues." Dara snarked.

"But you don't, so set him straight." Kimberley was still confused.

"I tried!" Dara threw her hands into the air. "But now he's sent me on Anger Management course!"

"It might be a good thing." Kimberley pointed out.

"Crazy Michael loving Earth traitor say _what_ now?" Dara demanded.

Lorne frowned. "Hey Dara, c'mon that was low she-"

"Shut it pretty boy." Dara snapped at Lorne.

"Don't snap at him!" Kimberley demanded, moving to square up to Dara.

"Ladies!" Lorne shouted, standing between them and laying a hand on each of their chests.

"SHUT IT!" They screamed at him, Dara moving to punch him in the gut, Kimberley throwing herself in front of the air force man.

"See! That's what you get for interfering!" Dara yelled at Kimberley, who held her midsection and tried to regain her breath.

"Col. Sheppard-" Lorne stopped speaking as Dara whirled around to glare at him, finger extended to poke him in in shoulder.

"Don't you dare finish that call!" She hissed.

"Major, is everything okay?" Sheppard asked.

"Everything's, eh, fine sir." Lore replied as he watched Kimberley stand up and tackle Dara to the ground, smashing into a shelving unit, causing the books to crash to the ground.

"Like hell it is, it sounds like there are two rhinos wrestling down there." John exclaimed. "I'm coming down there."

"We ain't the ScyFy channel!" Dara shouted into her earpiece, wriggling out from under Kimberley and kicking her in the shoulder.

Kimberley stumbled back and regrouped, waiting for Dara to stand up.

Dara rose quickly and took stock of her surroundings, becoming suspicious of Kimberley when she relaxed and smiled.

"C'mon Dara, lets not fight, please." Tears were beginning to collect in her eyes. "I don't want to end up losing another friend."

"Suck it up, this is a fight not some pansy asses bitch slap fest." Dara demanded.

The tears stopped and Kimberley nodded. "You want a fight I'll give you a fight. One question, how hard's you head?"

"Let me show you!" Dara ran forward and slammed her head into Kimberleys, who brought hers back then slammed it into the Americans.

"Ohh." The girls groaned and held their craniums, Kimberley recovering faster and lifted her left hand, slamming it to Dara who twirled around with the force, using the direction to bring her right hand up and grab for Kimberley.

Both girls grabbed a hold of each other; Kimberley grabbed Daras hair and Dara began to use her elbow and arm to grab her into a headlock as the door opened again and John came barreling in with a team of marines.

John stared at them then blinked. "Alright, what the hell is going on here? Dara, let go of her."

Dara tugged her arm a little closer.

"Boyce, let go." John motioned for the marines to flank the two girls, nodding to them as Kimberleys face began to change color and Daras head and hair began to go in opposite directions. "Separate them."

Lorne raised his zat and shot once.

John turned to him. "You had that the whole time and never shot them?"

Lorne shrugged. "Now I'm not the only one to get blamed."

"Let's get them to the infirmary; something must be wrong if they're going for each others throats like that." John ordered.

o0o

Slowly Dara came to on the infirmary bed, blinking slowly. Her limbs hurt and there was pressure on her wrists and ankles. Her body jerked as she tested the strength, frowning as a hand came to rest on her arm.

Daras head rose snappish to glare at the person, not softening as John looked down at her. "What?"

"Hey, less of the attitude." John chided, moving to sit back down on the seat he had been sitting on. "Mind telling me why you were attacking one of the members of the expedition, also your best friend?"

"She's not my best friend, she's a liability." Dara muttered.

'Not this again!' John found himself sighing, and then frowned to himself. "Dara, something happened in there, Kimberley has bruised ribs, you've got a mild concussion-"

"Damn her head is harder." Dara frowned to herself.

"Why were you two fighting?" John asked more clearly.

"None of your damned business." Dara snapped.

John frowned at her. "The moment you asked to come aboard this expedition you became my subordinate, every action that you do has a consequence that may or may not have people depending on you. Both you and Kimberley have a great deal of knowledge and you work better as a team to soundboard off of one another-you cannot afford to fight over petty reasons."

"Subordinate?" Dara laughed. "Don't make me laugh! I'm a civilian consultant."

"But you report directly to me." John argued.

"Oh what are you going to do, throw me in the brig?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tempt me." John damn near growled.

"You want to know the real reason?" Dara raised her voice. "I'm sick and tired of that immature brat not taking this, anything, seriously! We've been on Atlantis now for 6 months and she's still trying - and some how succeeding - in pulling off pranks! Do you _know_ how much danger we were in the other day?"

Dara paused for breath, her voice increasing with each anger-fuelled word.

"The Wraith could have attacked, the device could have malfunctioned, and she and Zelenka could have killed each other and stuck us like that! A million and one things can and do go wrong in this universe and she needs to grow up and realize she can't act like a child, a Mary sue or think that everything will turn up sunshine and daises because HELLO! Newsflash!" She tried to throw her hands in the air. "This, is Atlantis. This is the Pegasus Galaxy. People mess up, people have fun and people die. The sooner she realized that the better."

John waited for Dara to calm down before speaking. "Dara-"

"And what is with the whole blackmailing everyone thing!" Dara continued. "She's supposed to be this slightly more than inane than normal Scottish girl-what kind of evil and sick, twisted being blackmails Col. Carter into letting her have all those events!"

"And she's also supposed to be your best friend." John pointed out. "Best friends fight; I get that - hell look at me and Rodney. But they always patch things up."

Dara just glared at him.

John sighed and sat down on her bed. "Dara, you-I-if you two don't patch things up, I'll have to hand your case off to the human resources department."

"And?" She shook her head.

"That means the case will be handed to Doctor Baxter and his team." John reminded her.

"I'll just leave." Dara pointed out.

"Would you leave Kimberley here?" John wondered what part of the conversation was the threat.

Dara shrugged her shoulders, a slight smile on her face.

"You can not be serious!" John nearly shouted. "She's the main source of all these problems!"

"Did you not listen to what I just said?" Dara raised an eyebrow at him.

"Dara, seriously, you two can not go around fighting like that." John shook his head and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Do you have any suggestions as of how to deal with this problem?"

"Toss her off world with Ronon!" Dara suggested.

"Hey, that-is not such a bad idea..." John trailed off and began walked backwards, a crazy grin on his lips.

"Sheppard, I was kidding, Sheppard!" Dara shouted, then got this panicked look on her face. 'I know he doesn't like Kimberley but Ronon will kill her!'

Dara watched as John left the room, a skip in his step, and lay back on the bed with a thump. 'He could have untied me at least!'

o0o

What seemed like hours later, John finally returned, but this time with Rodney. The physicist looked up from the data pad he was examining to look around for Jennifer, hanging back at another bed as he couldn't see her and John approached Dara. "I have an idea!"

"I thought I could smell burning." Dara replied, slowly working on getting her other hand free.

John took the hairpin from her hand, looked at it then her, and threw it onto the meal tray. "How about a compromise?"

"Huh?" Dara asked.

"To deal with the Kimberley situation. A compromise." He repeated and snagged her jelly.

"Like what?" Dara asked, already suspicious.

"Say we do a competition, like Kimberley versus someone really good at said thing; if they win she had to act more serious." John began.

"One flaw in your plan flyboy." Dara crossed her arms over her chest and sat back.

"What?" John was clueless (as per the norm).

"What if, by some small, minute, teeny tiny cosmic fudge up, Kimberley wins?" Dara explained.

"Then we're screwed." Rodney muttered from the sidelines.

"Then she keeps having all her parties and stuff, but in exchange for that she had to complete one mission off world, and do all my paper work." John decided.

"And just how are you going to get Kimberley to agree to this?" Dara pointed out a problem.

John grinned. "Just use our Scottish secret weapon."

Dara blinked at him. "Okay, say we do this, and it somehow manages to work and not blow up in our face, what do I get out of it?"

John snorted. "Kimberley not trying to throw a party for everyone."

Dara looked at him.

"If you can get her to go through with this then I'll personally see to it that Doctor Baxter calls of the dogs and leaves you alone." John added.

Dara continued to stare at him.

"What?"

"AMI." Dara smirked.

"Maybe you need- alright you don't need them!" He began, then yelped as she gripped his middle forearm. "I'll get you out of your Anger Management Issues classes!"

Dara released his arm and smiled sweetly as he rubbed bruised appendage.

o0o

After having a quick chat with Doctor Baxter, John left the psychologists office and headed to the infirmary, this time intent in speaking to a member of the medical facility, rather than one of its occupants. "Hey doc!"

Carson turned around and smiled at John. "Col. Sheppard, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Kimberley." John replied as he stopped beside the medical doctor.

"Is she alright?" He asked, something flashing through his eyes. "What did she do now?"

"Do you know about the fight?" John asked.

Carson nodded. "Aye, she was filling me in. If she knew how mental Dara would have went for the prank she wouldn't have done it."

"I'm not here to talk about that, but maybe she should apologize to Dara?" John suggested.

Carson shook his head. "Kimberley says she's no speaking to Dara anymore."

John frowned. "What?"

"That's what I said." Carson agreed.

"Did you remind her that they are friends, the best of even?" John asked.

Carson nodded. "Aye, but she said she cannae be friends with someone who could physically harm her."

"She tried to tear her hair from her head!" John defended his girlfriend.

"But Dara was the one that threw the first punch." Carson pointed out, defending his own girlfriend.

"Its not like Dara meant to hurt Kimberley, how is she, by the way?" John figured he should ask.

"Alright, just a bruised ego and her heart hurts a little." Carson answered.

"Females." John shook his head.

"Aye." Carson agreed.

"Let's not get into the semantics. They were both in the wrong." John tried to move the conversation along. "I need your help Carson."

"With what?" Carson was suspicious.

"I think I have a way of getting Dara and Kimberley to talk with one another, and to end all these seemingly endless parties." John began.

"I like the parties." Carson butted in. "And if the girls aren't spending as much time with each other, they may spend it on more important things."

"A man can only handle so much crazy." John spoke quickly, and then wondered if he really meant Carson, or himself.

"I meant with informing Col. Carter of the TV series and helping this reality." Carson clarified. "Were you talking about Kimberley or Dara?"

Realizing there was not right answer John feigned ignorance. "As I was saying doc, this could get some order back on Atlantis and help get the girls to be friends again."

"Keep talking." Carson nodded.

"If we get Kimberley and someone to take part in a fair" 'ish' "competition, one that Dara has to help Kimberley, then they will be friends at the end and Atlantis will breathe a sigh of relief." John finished and looked at the medic, who nodded as though he was agreeing. "All I need you to do is to get Kimberley to agree to take part."

Carson bit his lip. "That might be a bit tricky. What's the competition? Who is it up against?"

"Probably a strategy thing. You know how Kimberley is with those." John fibbed. "And probably one of the newbie's, give her more of a fighting chance. Unless you have any suggestions?"

"As long as it's no Ronon we're fine!" Carson laughed.

John smirked and nodded before calling out a good bye and leaving the infirmary.

o0o

Kimberley lay on the infirmary bed, a small teddy to her left hand side. Slowly she messed around with its material while she waited for someone to come and tell her she could go back to her room.

Footsteps alerted her to someone walking, and she looked up, moving the teddy under the covers but half bringing it back out as soon as she spotted Carson turning the last corner. "Hi Carson."

"Kimberley." He smiled and kissed her forehead, smiling down at her. "How are you feeling?"

Kimberley shrugged. "My chest hurts a little."

"Physically or emotionally?" He asked and sighed as her eyes lost their shine. "Kimberley-"

"I don't want to hear it!" She threw her hands in the air, causing Carson to step back.

The Scottish clone grasped her hands and held them close as he sat down on her bed. "Kimberley, I think I have a solution to your problem."

"Which one?" She grinned at him like crazy. "Mentality, sanity, physical, ribs, special inability, balance, overactive imagination-"

"Whoa there, hold your horses missy." Carson laid a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get back to those issues later, but I mean your acceptance issues; specifically the issues that some members of the expedition have with you."

"Oh, that issue." She tried to sink lower on the bed.

Carson moved the covers that she was trying to hide herself with lower, then looked at her with his doctor face on. "Col. Sheppard actually came up with the idea-"

"No way." Kimberley denied straight off the bat. "Not doing it."

"Why?" Carson had to ask.

"Uh, I just got into a fistyfight with his gf; you think anything he suggests is going to be good for me?" She asked.

"All he suggested was that you have a friendly competition with someone, and if you win then you get to go off world, then plan something." Carson explained.

Kimberley stared at Carson. "Nuhhu, no way, never! I'd rather marry Neil Lennon!"

"But Kimberley-"

"But's nothing Carson, if I do what ever task they set up for me, I'm doomed!" Kimberley cried. "I'm not the fittest, hell I'm hardly fit, I'm not really smart and my resources are plastic and basic manipulation."

"You're good at other things." Carson began.

"Name any of them that are not linked to something a boyfriend would say to their girlfriend, a parent to their child, or a cop to the deranged lunatic with a gun." Kimberley demanded.

"Give it a try, for me, please?" Carson asked.

"I'll think about it." She answered. "What happens when I loose?"

"Oh, I think you just need to leave Atlantis and never return." He answered, preparing to stand up.

"L-leave-" Kimberley blanched, then glared at his smile. "Carson!"

Said man fled for a hasty retreat.

o0o

Later on Dara had been released from her constraints and allowed out of the infirmary. Kimberley was trying to avoid everyone but had somehow been hoodwinked into meeting everyone in the debriefing room.

The entire first team, Dara, Kimberley, Carson and Col. Carter where inside the conference room. Teyla and Ronon stood to the side, while Rodney sat between Kimberley and Dara. John sat at one side with Dara, Carson on the other with Kimberley, and Carter in between them. "Dara, Kimberley; I hope you two are feeling better?"

The girls nodded.

"Good. Now I'm not here to shout at you, I believe the men sitting beside me have done enough of that already." She replied. "I am here to talk about a solution that has been offered to me."

Kimberley muttered something rude and Carson nudged her leg.

"Someone came up with the idea of a battle of wits between yourself Kimberley, and a member of the expedition." Sam explained in case someone missed the memo or set up. "It will be taken off world and the rules and game will be clear and simple."

"All Kimberley has to do is beat the other person to the gate." Carson explained, and Rodney passed the girls a folder with information.

"So all I have to do it get to the gate?" Kimberley asked, smiling at him.

John nodded and got her attention. "Basically, but you will have someone tracking you."

The smile disappeared quickly. "Who?"

There was a silence as John and Carson held a silent conversation with head nods, shakes and eyebrow raises.

"Will some one just tell me!" Kimberley demanded.

Dara crossed her arms and glared at Kimberley. "It's Ronon."

"Bu bye." Kimberley tried to stand up to walk out of the door, only to be pulled back down by Carson. "He'll eat me! No offence!"

Ronon nodded.

"There is no way I'm going to win." Kimberley shook her head. "I won't even last ten minutes!"

Instead of letting the conversation go round and round Dara stood up and matched towards the reluctant girl.

"Can I talk to Kimberley, alone?" Dara asked and pulled the reluctant girl outside. "Look you have to do this."

Kimberley glared at her.

"Stop it with the evil eyes." Dara glared back. "If you can't show Col. Carter and Sheppard that you can handle your self off world then we're _both_ going home, and I am not leaving the adventure of a life time because you are too scared!"

Kimberley blinked slowly at her and nodded, turning she walked back into the room and stopped in front of Ronon. "Promise not to break me?"

Ronon grinned and shrugged.

'Ho crap.' Kimberley thought.

Dara grinned at the look of pure horror on her ex friends face.

"Actually, I have something to say." Baxter commented as he entered the room.

Everyone turned to look at him, and glare turned her grin into a glare reserved usually for kitty kickers and the heads of a certain TV show.

"The girls have had a huge fight, and I do not think that they have reconciled yet." Baxter began, and handed everyone except Kimberley and Dara a red folder.

'Why is it red?' Kimberley wondered.

"Why is it red?" Dara asked.

The girls suddenly looked at one another before looking away.

"The girls need to get past their school yard bickering, otherwise there will be a negative effect on Atlantis and the stock of headache tablets in the infirmary." Baxter replied, and then looked around the room dejectedly.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Dara asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because it wasn't very funny."

Kimberley rolled her eyes and stood up. "I sighed up to help, not be forced into a pow-wow when I was only trying help buby-" THUNK.

Everyone turned to look at Ronon, who pointed his gun towards Dara. "You coming quietly."

'I hate getting zapped.' She thought and began to nod. THUNK.

"What did you zat both of them for?" John demanded. 'Now we have to carry both of them through the gate.'

Ronon shrugged and grinned.

o0o

A bitter cold ran through Dara, causing her to shiver and turn to what the nearest heat source was.

The heat source kicked her.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, thinking it was John, then sat up and blinked to the strange environment. 'Weren't we just in the debriefing room?"

Kimberley lifted her head from her arms, looked around then nodded. "And we're not on Atlantis."

Both girls sprang apart and took stock of their situation.

'We're alone.' 'Off world.' 'With no previsions.' 'No IDC device.' 'And no radios.' They looked to each other and glowered. 'We're screwed.'

o0o

John watched the girls glare at each other and shiver from the comfort of his own warm puddle jumper and frowned. "What were the chances of those two killing each other?"

"Sixty forty." Ronon replied.

John turned to look at him then sighed. "I meant probability, not betting odds."

The Sedetan shrugged.

Baxter looked around the alien coffin he was in and shuddered. "This will speed up the girls' recovery process from their childish argument. Such extreme circumstances will force them to co-operate faster and heal quicker."

'Blah, blah, blah.' Rodney rolled his eyes at the quack mumbo jumbo and glanced at the read out. "The temperatures going to reach pretty low in about two hours."

"So they've got two hours to sort things out." John shrugged. "What are the odds of them still not talking after three hours in total in freezing weather?"

o0o

"I can't believe they're still not talking." John handed Ronon his spoils and continued to stare at the two girls who had their backs to one another.

"Maybe we should crank it up a notch." Rodney grinned.

'I don't like the look of that.' John thought to himself as Rodney cackled and pressed a green button with a white stripe down it.

o0o

"Bugger, wraith dart." Kimberley grumbled to herself, putting her head back on her knees. 'OMG IT'S A WRAITH DART!'

Dara looked up at where her companion was looking and blinked. "Is it just me or is that a HEY!"

Kimberley grabbed Dara by her wrists and hauled her from the patch they had been sitting on, running away from the dart as it flew towards them. 'Where the heck did that come from?'

Dara struggled to get her footing, but soon caught up and began dragging Kimberley as the dart began to fire near them, shouting to be heard over the noise around them. "MOVE IT!"

"LIKE I'M A PEN!" Kimberley yelled at her, catching up and looking back every few seconds, yelping as her feet caught on something and she went flying.

Dara could feel Kimberley let go of her hand as she fell and she ran for a few feet then spun round, moving to grab her friend as she ran towards her, changing her path to keep clear of the dart.

It flew where they had been running and she paused for breath until it starting turning around, its beam starting up. 'Crap.'

o0o

John looked at Rodney, who was enjoying him self far too much, and wondered if the scientist had finally snapped.

He turned to look at Baxter for a little reassurance, but the psychologist was too busy scribbling notes on a notebook to notice.

John turned his head to look at Ronon, who shrugged.

John shook his head and went back to watching the girls.

o0o

As the dart alternated from shooting at the girls and trying to beam them up, they ran towards an object that they could see in the distance.

The girls tightened their hold on each others hands and pushed them selves further and further, praying that the object was somewhere of solace.

Soon the snow gave way to nothing, and caused Kimberley, who was lagging behind, to suddenly drop to the ground, holding onto Dara for the dear life of her. "WHO THE HELL PUTS A BLOODY CLIFF ON A BLOODY EDGE?

"SOME IDIOT WHO CAN'T PLAN SOMEONE ESCAPING THE WRAITH!" Dara yelled in return, watching fearfully as the dart flew past them and seemed too hovered a few hundred feet away from them. Dara noted that Kimberley was slowly being dragged down by her slight weight and relaxed the hand she was holding, using the other to try and claw the hand free.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Kimberley screamed at her and let go of the rock she was holding to grab her other hand, slipping further.

"GRAB THAT ROCK YOU IDIOT!" Dara insulted. "AND LET ME GO."

"NOT ON YOUR NELLY!" Kimberley replied and swung her body round the large rock to anchor herself. "I AM NOT LETTING YOU GO!"

"OH SHUT UP AND LET ME GO YOU BAKA GAIJIN!" Dara screeched, noting how much further and further Kimberley was getting from the safety of the edge.

It was then Dara heard the icy river running below her. She turned her head fearfully to look at it and closed her eyes, beginning to accept her fate as Kimberley let one of her hands loose.

o0o

John, Rodney, Ronon and Baxter stared at the girls.

"Uh..." Rodney began. "It wasn't supposed to go this way..."

o0o

"LOOK I'M SORRY!" Kimberley yelled to Dara as she holds onto her. "ABOUT THE JOHN THING! I THOUGHT I WAS HELPING!"

"What the hell was with all the pictures?" Dara yelled back, trying to get some feeling in her fingers to climb up and away from the icy water below.

"It's me, I don't think!" Kimberley returned and began crawling backwards.

"I shouldn't have been so harsh." Dara replied as she watched the dart begin to lazily fly towards her.

"Are darts supposed to do that?" Kimberley huffed once she brought Dara over the edge to safety.

"I don't think so..." They watched transfixed as the dart slowly landed, and the back hatch opened up. "Okay I know darts doing have hatches!"

John and the gang exited the dart and began walking to them. Baxter opened his mouth.

"Don't." Kimberley warned them.

"Just get us back to Atlantis." Dara snapped at them.

o0o

In Atlantis, Dara and Kimberley turned to one another and stormed away from the boys.

"Great, now they're not talking to us!" John threw his hands in the air.

"At least they're talking to each other." Carson pointed out, and then frowned. 'Do I even want to know what they did?'

"But still!" John complained.


	23. Woman Tracker

Rodney, John and Baxter sat rubbing their arms as Carson levelled them with a glare, the girls smirking to the side.

"Now, stop taking ma gurl of world to danger mishuns." Carson continued to glare when Sam came up to them.

"Hey guys, are you still looking to do the 'Woman Hunt'?" She asked with a small smile on her face.

Still rubbing his arm John nodded.

"Well there is a window of opportunity before the next round of evaluations are due." Sam continued. "Do you still require the use of a puddle jumper?"

"Naa, we can just use Daras." John nodded to the head of the expedition, and then felt a tongue depressor hit him in the back of the head. "I mean, yeah, we'd love one."

Sam nodded. "If you could be ready in a few hours, I want to get Atlantis back to normal as soon as."

Everyone nodded and went back to what they were doing. Sam left the infirmary and began heading to the mess when she heard her name being called. She turned around to see Kimberley standing unsurely in the corridor.

Kimberley bit her lip. "I was just, erm, wondering, why are you letting us do this?"

"What the IOA don't know won't hurt me." Sam grinned, then smiled at the youngest member of the expedition, then nodded, knowing the girl wanted a serious answer. "Because I know you can do this."

"But-"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have bet a pound of coffee on you to win?" Sam tried to encourage her, keeping the fact she bid two pound of Jolly Ranchers that Ronon would win.

Kimberley smiled widely. "You really think I can win?"

Sam nodded. "If you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want to."

Biting her lip Kimberley nodded. "I'll get you your coffee back when I lose."

"That's not the kind of mentality to have." Sam shook her head.

"Just being realistic." Kimberley shrugged.

"You have a lot of advantages Kimberley, don't sell yourself short." Sam smiled to her.

"Thanks Col. Carter." Kimberley beamed.

"Call me Sam." Sam encouraged. "Want to head to the mess hall? I hear they have blue jello?"

Smirking slightly Kimberley shook her head. "Naa, I've got a lot of work to get done before I get my ass handed to me."

Figuring that she wasn't going to get through to her Sam nodded. "I'll see you at the send off."  
o0o  
An hour later, everyone converged at the puddle jumper bay.

"Okay, the rules are simple; use anything you have on you and around you; no kill shoots; if you're unconscious you are out." John paused, watching Carson double check the straps of Kimberleys backpack before continuing. "If the Wraith attack the games a bogey."

"What's a bogey?" Ronon asked over Kimberleys "that's it?"

"First one to the gate wins and we'll be monitoring you from the jumper and via the satellite in the room in Atlantis." Dara finished and handed them both an envelope, watching them enter one of the Atlantis puddle jumpers. "Good luck and Gods speed."

'Why do I feel like SG1?' Kimberley wondered and blinked in confusion as the metallic gray of the puddle jumper dissolved into the blue light of the transport beam, to the green forest of the planet. 'Ho boy!'  
o0o  
On Atlantis, the crew was split in the command centre. Half of them wanted Ronon to win, to teach the new girl a lesson. The other half enjoyed the cake.

Radek nodded to Chuck, who brought up the map of the planet for everyone to see onto one of the screens.

"Kimberley has to get from here" he pointed to a spot on the map, then to another one a fair distance away "to here, without Ronon capturing her."

"Bets start at two granola bars!" Evan stated as he walked in, blanching as Carter raised an eyebrow, then sighing in relief as she left the room without saying anything.  
o0o  
'Oh crap oh crap oh crap.' Kimberley thought as she sprinted away from the experienced survivor, wondering what the hell she was going to do to survive.

_"Swing left!"_

"GYAH!" Kimberley swatted at her ear, then stopped running. 'I've finally flipped! I can hear the voices everyone warned be about!'

_"He's coming up hot behind you, move it!"_ Her head screamed at her.

It took her two more seconds to realize that it was Mack in her ear. 'Mack is my insane voice? Huh.'

_"MOVE IT BOYCE, I'VE GOT A LOT RIDDING ON THIS!"_ Brent shouted, causing her to jump.

"Brent's my angry voice?" She spoke to herself.

_"What is she talking about?"_ Brent asked.

_"I dunno, Kims, you remember about the earpieces, right?"_ Mack asked.

'Oh.' "Oh!" Kimberley nodded, then placed a hand at her ear and took it off, tossing it at the bottom of her bag. 'Don't need any more voices in the mix.'  
o0o  
Ronon looked around the ground and paused, listening to the chatter in his ear before taking out the earpiece and tossed it behind a tree, rubbing his ear to get rid of the ringing McKay had caused.

Looking around he spotted a large and sound looking tree. Taking a running start, he jumped up the trunk and began climbing the wood.  
o0o  
Kimberley looked at the map she had found in her backpack and brought out her compass, eyes running between the two. 'I need to go south west- is that south west? Wait! The river! Get to the river, thank you Girl Guides!'

She stuffed the items back into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, nervously fiddling with her zat phone. After a few minutes, she noticed the shrubbery was becoming more vibrant and smiled, secure in her limited knowledge she was heading in the right direction.  
o0o  
Ronon frowned as he held on to the top of the tree - Kimberley was heading the wrong way for the Stargate. Quickly he scaled down the tree before heading in the direction she was travelling.  
o0o  
The group above watched as Kimberley headed away from the gate and towards the river, and watched as Ronon began tracking her, often scaling trees and small mountains to keep an eye on her.

In the 'game' room, a chalkboard from the girls common room was up, with various bets on play. So far, they had bet on a Wraith invasion, Asguard appearance, Ronon winning, Kimberley loosing, Kimberley clobbering Ronon with something...

"Who put down the planet would blow up?" Chuck asked Mack, who pointed to Evan. "He still on pain meds?"

Mack nodded.

Chuck rubbed it off the board and passed a bar of soap to him. "Give him it back, you know the rules."

Mack smiled in gratitude and made his way to the doped up air force man as Sam Carter entered the room all activity stopping.

Sam looked at them and smiled. "Just carry on, just finding out how things are going?"

"Well it's been four hours; Kimberley has gone in the wrong direction and has Ronon tailing her. There has been no activity from friends or foe and both players seem to be in good spirits." Baxter summarized, looking up from the computer consol.  
o0o  
'I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here...' Kimberley thought frantically in her mind as she made her way through the foliage, aware of all the bugs, animals and man tracking her. A shiver passed through her but she tried to shake it off, concentrating on her breathing and not having another asthma attack. 'Did I pack my inhaler? Oh crapsticks, I hope so.'  
o0o  
Ronon spotted Kimberley a few minutes away and nodded to himself, he could finish this right here, right now.

Then he spotted a gun lying a few feet away from him.

Frowning Ronon made his way towards it, picking up a stick to hesitantly poke the gun that looked like the one Catherine had made that the girls had called Vera mark two or something like that.  
o0o  
Kimberley paused as something sounded like a whip in the air, and blanched. 'I hope that wasn't an animal!'  
o0o  
John and Rodney stared with slack jaws at the sight of Ronon hanging upside down by his ankles.

Dara held her hand out and Teyla handed over her Twix bar. The American smirked at the look on both John and Rodneys face, and the one of complete confusion on Ronons.  
o0o  
Kimberley burst through the foliage and grabbed the side of a tree, holding onto it and breathed deeply. Bending at the waist she carefully turned around, sighing as she couldn't see or hear Ronons angry utterances.

Standing up she looked at the small river and began looking around for a bridge, figuring she would be better on the other side. Not spotting any, she looked into the water and prayed there were no Kimbo-eating things in it.  
o0o  
"What is she doing?" Rodney asked as Dara turned around to see her friend dive head first into the water.

Everyone waited with baited breath for her to break the surface of the water.

"Can she swim?" Someone whispered as the ripples became so large they were unnoticeable.

The seconds continued to tick.

"Get the jumper down there!" Sam ordered as everyone burst into panic. "Radio Ronon and tell him to get to the river ASAP."

"He's not answering his radio, and he's still tied up." Chuck answered, then stared at the screen as Kimberley burst through the other side of the bank, clung to the grass before hauling herself up, breathing deeply while gasping for breath.

"What the hell?" Dara demanded, fear giving way to anger. 'She's going to give me a heart attack!'  
o0o  
Kimberley rung out her top and trousers, before wringing her hair in her hands, then put it back up in a twisted bun on the top of her head. She took off her shoes and dumped the water out of them, then sighed at the fact they were ruined.

Figuring she could waste no more time Kimberley dumped the shoes, picked up her backpack from where she had thrown it over the river and got out the map and compass, following the directions towards the Stargate. 'I was going the wrong way!'  
o0o  
Ronon swung him self backwards and forwards, gathering momentum before finally grabbing the tree that he was tied to, and began climbing up it, getting to a highish branch and pulling the rope free, then climbed down, untying himself from it.

He tossed the rope aside and continued in the direction he last saw Kimberley, deciding to play with her a little while before finally capturing her.  
o0o  
"So, who do you want to win?" Sam asked Dara, who did take a double take at the interest that the head of the expedition was having on the goings on of two aliens.

Dara narrowed her eyes slightly. "Has General O'Neill placed a bet?"

Sam's lips tightened, but she nodded slightly.

"I would stick my money on Ronon; he's obviously going to win." Dara explained. "But Kimberley has so far managed to surprise us three times."

"Three?" Sam was confused.

"The rope, the river and the fact she knew to use the river to get her bearings." Radek explained for the female.

Sam looked at the total tally of who was voting for Kimberley and Ronon to win (8 and 88) and placed her money in Daras hands. "Twenty five bucks and sixty cents on Kimberley to win."

"You sure?" Dar asked, instead of asking why such a specific amount.

"Yes, General O'Neill wanted me to place a bet with what change I accidentally brought with me." Sam nodded then left, smiling to herself 'And I'm not going to tell her that he wanted me to bet on her anyway. He has to stop reading the mission reports.'  
o0o  
The sun was beginning to set and Ronon decided to set up camp, aware that Kimberley wouldn't be stupid enough to travel during the night.

Spotting a high and wide enough tree, he began climbing and placed his hands behind his head, slowly nodding off.  
o0o  
Kimberley jumped awake as her phone went off; causing her to roll around in the pile of leaves, she had been sleeping on. Spitting the remaining few from her mouth, she completely sat up and turned the alarm off, standing up and looked around her. 'Half an hour, otta do it.'

Carefully she began walking towards the direction of the gate, making sure to walk in a path and not step on any twigs.

Kimberley frowned as she spotted a trail made recently. Initially she panicked, wondering if Ronon was waiting just behind a tree to jump out and zat her, when she heard soft breathing.

Soft, relaxed, sleeping breathing.

Carefully, and with baited breath, she followed the path, staring in shock just above her head as Ronon lay there sleeping. A small orange raccoon ran down the tree and started sucking on a flower.

Kimberley watched the strange raccoon like animals drinking from the sweet nectar and grinned, an idea forming in her mind.  
o0o  
Ronon woke up and stared into the orange and black eye in front of him, smiling as he thought it was Melina staring back at him.

The eyes, and body connected to it, then left him a present on his chest.

"GYAH!" He yelled, jumping away from the animal and landed on the squishy ground.

Looking around he listened for a certain brunettes laughter, before silently vowing sweet, sweet, stinky revenge on her.  
o0o  
John stepped back in the morning rising sun and examined his handy work.

The finish line was a little crooked, but in all honesty, he never expects Kimberley to be using it so it doesn't really matter.

He walked over to a tree, taped a video recorder onto it, and pressed record before going back to his original position.

John placed his hand on his radio and requested to be beamed back up.

"Yes, yes, sure, now stop calling me Scotty!" Carson demanded.  
o0o  
Kimberley glanced nervously around her as she finished her business, head whipping backwards and forwards to make sure the man wasn't anywhere near.

"Boyce!"

Kimberley jumped as she heard Ronons enraged yell and smiled in fear. 'I take it he found his presents then.'  
o0o  
Ronon jumped in the river to get rid of most of the dung that stuck to his clothes, his body, and his hair; then began walking through the thick foliage to find Kimberley. Just the thought of the female made his blood boil. "BOYCE!"  
o0o  
Amelia blinked at the screen as Ronon took off his top to get it to dry faster, and quickly moved to hit the record button, already setting the email up to send it to the relevant people.  
o0o  
Ronon continued to glare and stomp through the flora and fauna as he picked up Kimberleys trail, frowning and loosing his anger as he saw her sitting next to a tree, tears trailing down her face as she clutched her purple turning leg.

"Kimberley, you okay?" Ronon asked, moving quicker to get to her side.

Kimberley looked up at him in alarm. 'Crap!'

Ronon was a few feet away from her when the ground beneath him 'whooshed' and swallowed him whole.

Ronon looked up from the hole he was in and at Kimberley as she poked her head over the edge to look at him. She waved her fingers to him, and then dropped off a package. "Sorry Ronon, but I dun wanna leave Atlantis!"

"What are you-" Ronon started to ask but moved out of the way as her package went towards his head. "Kimberley? KIMBERLEY!"

He waited a few minutes, wondering if she was coming back for him, before he looked in the package and opened one of the power bars, chewing it in anticipation.  
o0o  
Kimberley waited for a few minutes then peaked over again, grinning at the sight of Ronon out cold. She slid the rope over the edge and down to him before jumping up and running towards the direction of the Stargate.  
o0o  
In the puddle jumper, and on an opened channel to the games room, everyone was in a shocked and stunned silence.

"Did she just." Was all Dara could manage.

"Uh hu." John replied.

"Is it too late to change our bets?" Miko asked, wondering for the first time if following Rodney was not the best plan of action.

"All bets are final from when the two set foot on the planet." Scott looked to Chuck sadly, as he said this. "Sorry Rutty, that's the rules."

"Half a bag of saffron, gone!" Rotella grieved.

"How do you think I feel, I need to show Kimbo-erley how to search through gate addresses?" Chuck moaned.

"Oh crap!" Scott suddenly cried and everyone turned to the screens, the him. Scott turned to them fearful. "If she wins then she gets to celebrate everything!"

"She wouldn't do that." Sam stated, and then frowned as Dara nodded. "Seriously?"

"This is the girl that celebrated International Pillow Fight day." Dara pointed out.

"I'll have a chat with her." Sam nodded to Scott, who frowned.

"But if she wins fair and square then how can you-" Scott began but was cut off by Sam.

"I am the leader of this expedition, and in charge of the budget." Sam explained. "And we have an understanding."

'I hope we never find out what the understanding is.' Dara thought to herself and turned back to look at her friend making her way to the stargate.  
o0o  
Kimberley stared at the strange but familiar object in the distance and held her breath before power walking to it, aware of the heat from the sun.

John watched intently as Ronon began to drag himself towards Kimberley, before raising his gun and trying to aim it.

Dara stared in horror as Ronon pressed the trigger.

The entire expedition in the room burst into cheers and Kimberley fell stunned into the gate and the finish line. Then looked to one another confused.  
o0o  
"She won!"

"No, HE won!"

"Look, we all saw her getting zatted-"

"But only after she was through the finish line!"

"LADIES!" John shouted and stepped between Kavanaugh and Cadman, who turned from glaring at each other to glare at him. "Why don't we just watch the video?"

Everyone looked at him.

"There's a video?"  
o0o  
Ronon watched Kimberley intently as she walked about in the crutches, firmly aware of everyone watching her.

No one, partly including Kimberley, could quiet believe that they were seeing on the screen.

"It has so be some kind of mistake." Kimberley shook her head, refusing to believe it was true.

"Trust me when I say I wish it was." John muttered to her, and then ignored her inquisitive and hurt look.

"Show it in slow motion, frame by frame!" Rodney ordered, and Chuck brought it up.

Everyone watched for the billionth time as Kimberley fell into the finishing tape (and the Stargate) a millisecond before Ronon successfully zatted her.

She began to smile unsurely, looking to the ground.

"I told you that you could do it." Sam smiled to her and stepped forward. "And I know there were certain allowances that were extended to you for winning, however there are some restrictions."

"I understand." Kimberley nodded.

Dara walked over as Sam stared at the quiet girl. She thumped her arm. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! And where did you learn to be so sneaky?"

"I told you I was manipulative." Kimberley replied sweetly, and smiled at her friend like she knew something she didn't.

Dara whacked her arm. "Well knock it off!"

"You did good out there." Ronon stated as soon as he was close enough to her.

"Uh, I was lucky." She shrugged. "Odd of that happening again is like, never ever."

They were silent as Kimberley looked to the ground once more, before looking up a Ronon. "I'm sorry, by the way, for knocking you out and stringing you up by the tree."

"And the Racdons?" He raised an eye brow.

"Awww is that what you call them?" She squealed and moved to clasp her hands, avoiding falling over at the last second by not having control of her crutches by Ronon. "Sorry."

'You will be.' He thought and nodded to her. "You did so good out there you deserve something else."

"I don't like the sound of this." Kimberley told him.

Ronon smirked some more. "You're out of the Newbies training."

"Wow." She blinked. 'That wasn't too bad- wait...' "Is that it?"

Ronon smirked so much she thought his face was going to split open. "No. You are training the newbies."

"Dang it!"


	24. Froliking Fun Before I Sleep

The day after the survivathon Carson found Kimberley still in the infirmary, her crutches being taken back. "Kimberley, just the lass I wanted to see."

"Is it terminal?" Kimberley asked, fear going though her eyes.

"No, its girl!" Mack grinned as Cole dragged his butt through the medical doors.

"I just wondered if you wanted to go out with me tonight, for dinner?" Carson smiled to her.

"I'd love to!" She grinned.

Jennifer smiled as she shook her head. "If you want Carson you could take her for lunch?"

"Do I need to come back tonight?" Kimberley was beginning to detest the infirmary, and the doctors could see that.

"No, no, but just in case something happens." Jennifer smiled to her, and watched enviously as the two Scottish individuals left the room together.

o0o

They entered Kimberleys common room and she smiled to Carson. "Sure you dinnae mind?"

"Naa, its fine." Carson nods to her, watching as she enters her room. Slowly he looks around before spotting the XBox, and the games bag next to it.

Carson looks at it before spotting the game discs lying around and assumed they were Kimberleys, and booted the XBox up, turned the TV on and popped in Call Of Duty.

o0o

Kimberley exited her room, fresh from her shower and hair still drying, and frowned as she looked around the room, wondering where all the men came from.

Radek was muttering to himself as Ronon shouted 'go left, left, look, just, give me the thing!'. Rodney rolled his eyes at them all and John sat on Daras couch reading through a cheat book that was in his hands.

"Uh, hey guys?" Kimberley spoke loudly, then rolled her eyes as they just mumbled a hello. 'What are they-ohh, CoD!'

o0o

Dara entered her old quarters and frowned at the site of Ronon laying on his stomach, staring at the TV screen in fascination, and raised an eye brow as John started speaking commands. "What is going on in here?"

"Gyah!" Kimberley yelled, jumping on the couch, the control going flying and hitting Ronon in the back of his head.

He picked it up and carried on killing.

Dara walked over and looked at the game they were playing, then to her friend. "You like shoot 'em games?"

Kimberley blushed but nodded.

"You hate guns!" Dara couldn't help it.

"But, its like a game." Kimberley bit her lip. "Mostly I played them with-"

Carson paused the game as she stopped speaking and turned round to her. "With? Allen?"

"What? God no, not with Allen, he didn't like me spending time on the XBox." Kimberley smiled at him. "Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?"

"Sure." He smiled and handed the controller to John and Rodney, who fought over it before Rodney won, and John went back to the cheat guide. "But who did you used to play the game with?"

"Look does it really matter?" She snapped, then closed her eyes and took a cleansing breath. "Its in the past, kay."

Carson spared a glance at Dara, who shrugged, then motioned to the girl halfway out the hall.

Carson jumped from his spot and raced after her, allowing Ronon to stand up, without looking, and fall into his still warm seat.

Dara rolled her eyes and went into her old room for some shut eye, figuring John would wake her up when he got bored of the game.

o0o

Scott nodded to Kimberley and Carson as the entered the infirmary, then turned to glare at the newest porter, a Polish army brat. "Zolnowska! What did I tell you!"

"Why don'y you take a seat Kimberley, and I'll grab us some lunch?" Carson motioned to the seats, and watched her sit down before looking at the items up for grabs. 'Crap, what doe she like?'

Thinking on his feet he looked for things that he knew he liked and hoped for the best.

o0o

Kimberley looked around as she waited for Carson to return, suddenly wondering if this was a date. 'Well we better not just be bed buddies after last week.'

At that thought she began to blush and put her head in her hands, trying to hide the smile from her face.

"Are you all right?" Carson asked and she jumped, nodding to him affirmatively. "You're face is awful red."

"Just thinking about the other night." She flirted terribly, and bit her lip as his own face turned red.

"I uh, brought you some erm, chicken, I hope you like it." He distracted the conversation and placed the two chicken sandwiches down, then sat beside her.

They smiled to one another then sat in a comfortable silence at they ate their meal.

Scott watched them from the lip of the entrance door to the kitchen and smiled.

"What we watching?" David asked, appearing at his elbow.

"Me kickng your ass if you don't get those ovens cleaned!" Scott retaliated, turning around once more before entering the kitchen to see the happy couple holding hands under the table.

o0o

Dara nodded to Sam as they entered the meeting room from opposite ends, settling down at the table with a data pad, stack of papers, and a bucket of coffee for the leader of the expedition.

"So to begin with, where are we in relation to the time line from the series?" Sam asked.

"Close to season four." Dara replied. "Until some events happen I can't be too sure where exactly we are, but there are a few non life threatening events that should happen before anything major."

"And where are we with the Michael situation?" Sam questioned.

Dara sighed. "Still trying to figure out the best possible time for an elimination."

Sam nodded. "Any word from the girls in your reality about any movement?"

"No, I sent them the sub space scanner, thanks again by the way, but Catherine says it hasn't picked up anything, which either means nothings coming or they left the cap on." Dara tried to joke.

o0o

Ronon and Teyla circled each other before the Setean darted forward, hoping to land a blow on Teylas stomach. The female bent a little and whacked him on the knee hard enough to cause him to hobble on one leg and then crash into the wall.

"Ronon!" Ronon must have had one hell of a concussion because he could have sworn he just heard Kimberley shout to him. "Are you okay Ronon?"

"Hey, it is you." He grinned, pointing in her general direction.

"Can you have a look at him Carson?" Kimberley turned to her medical beau and worried.

"I'm off duty hen." Carson tried to remind her.

"Aww go on Car, it'll only take a few minutes." Kimberley shouldered him and grinned.

He turned to her quizzically. "Car?"

"Do you not like it? Cuz I can not call you it if you don't like it." Kimberley rambled.

Carson placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it encouragingly. "No, no, its just, no ones ever called me Car before."

"Really?" She continued to bite her lip.

"Aye." Carson nodded and bent down to capture her lips.

"Ronon is still in need of medical attention." Teyla hated to interrupt but his eyes were starting to roll. "I know that his male head is very dense, but one day it will crack open."

Kimberley blinked at her and Carson sighed. "Hen, you have got to stop corrupting the aliens."

The youngest in the room blushed and ducked her head as Carson made his way over to Ronon.

o0o

Later that day Carson and Kimberley walked together through Atlantis, steadily making their way in no specific direction.

"I had a nice time today." Kimberley blushed as Carson moved closer to her, taking her hand in his.

"Me too." He smiled and tightened his hold on her. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Sure, where?" Kimberley asked.

"How about the south pier." He suggested.

"Um, its kinda under going some structural damage repairs." Kimberley looked away and whistled silently.

"The piers lasted for thousands of years submerged under water, what could possibly cause such damage?" Carson asked, mainly to himself.

Kimberley giggled nervously. "I did tell you it was a bad idea for me to learn to drive."

Carson laughed and smiled at Kimberley, who blushed and ducked her head, moving his arm to put it around her and pull her close. Kimberley hesitated for a second then placed her head on his chest and silently sighed contently.

o0o

Rodney poked his RC and looked at John and his own one. "What did you add? Nitrous?"

"What? No! Come on Rodney, you said it yourself the canister would be more of a problem than a help." John denied, smirking as he finished his sentence. "I'm just a better driver."

"Carson? Carson!" Someone screamed and they dropped their toys, running in that direction.

o0o

Carson opened his mouth to say something when he grimaced and held his side.

Kimberley turned to him. "You okay Carson?"

Carson tried to nod, but his neck had froze, and his eyes rolled to the top of his head before he could feel himself crash to the ground, Kimberleys voice in his ear as he passed out.

Kimberley watched him crash to the ground and panicked. "Carson Carson!"

Footsteps sounded round the corner and Kimberley looked up from where she was kneeling and thanked Joe Mozalli that they were nearby. "Carson just crashed one me, I think its his wraith cells."

"We'll get him to the infirmary, you radio them ahead alright." John ordered as he grabbed an arm and Rodney grabbed the other. He paused as she stared at them in panik. "It'll be alright Kimberley, trust me."

Kimberley looked at him, trying to hold back the tears of panic, and nodded.

o0o

Half an hour later everyone was gathered around Carsons bed, Kimberley holding his hands and trying to stay calm.

"His cells are degrading too fast." Jennifer looked over sadly at Carson, who tried to look positive. "I'm afraid we don't have much time."

"Can you still freeze him?" Kimberley felt that it was her fault; maybe there was something she missed? 'Oh God I shouldn't have messed about so much!'

"We-could?" Jennifer turned to Carson, who nodded his ascent, then back to Dara. "Is that what happened the first time?"

Dara nodded. "I had hoped that we could avoid it if we caught him soon enough but, it worked on the show, so there's a high chance that it will still work in real life."

"I can set up the stasis room in about twenty minutes." Rodney explained and rushed from his chair to the nearest transporter.

"Does anyone want my opinion?" Carson asked.

Kimberley mover one of her hands to brush some hair from his eyes. "No. You're going in that stasis chamber, end of discussion mister."

Carson brought a hand to her face and traced along her jaw. He tried to smile. "It'll be okay hen."

"It bloody well better be." She mumbled to him and buried her head in his chest, allowing him to put his arms around her tightly.

"Statis room is ready." Rodney called through their earpieces, but no one moved to break the two apart. "Today people!"

o0o

Jennifer wheeled Carson into the stasis room where everyone was gathered in a line, from John to Rodney, from Ronon to Dara.

As Carson said his good byes he looked around for Kimberley, frowning as he couldn't spot her. Turning to Rodney he nodded to him. "Keep ma girls safe, ye hear?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He replied dismissively.

"WAIT!" Everyone turned as Kimberley came barreling into the room, making a bee line for Carson.

Carson grabbed her as she came close and stopped her from running into a piece of machinery. He smiled sadly. "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"Woudln't miss it for the world." She smiled, then handed him a paisley sweater. "In case you get cold."

Dara slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned silently. 'That girl!'

"Its a stasis chamber, not like its the Arctic." Rodney gripped as he removed the sweater from Carsons hand.

Carson smiled to Kimberley as she blushed. "The thought was sweet. And I'll be fine."

"I'll be here when you get out." Kimberley nodded, hugging him once more then stepped back as Rodney and his team hooked him up to the machine.

They watched as Carson walked up to the machine and turned around, smiling to them before the ice encased him. They continued to stare in silence as Rodney team informed them all that it was working fine.

"Are you okay?" Dara placed a hand on Kimberley shoulder.

Kimberley nodded and shrugged it off, not bothering to turn around or verbally answer.

"I'll be in my room if you're looking for me, okay?" Dara tried again, leaving after a few minutes of silence and slowly everyone else followed her.

Kimberley waited until the door hissed closed and moved her eyes from the data pad she was working on to glance at Carson, a sad smile appearing on her lips.

Quietly she stood up, walking over to his stasis chamber and sat on the floor, the data pad on her knees. "Hey Carson, how are you?"

Kimberley laughed.

"Well you are in a freezing stasis chamber!" She continued to smile and slowly her eyes left his blue ones to look at the data pad, continuing with her work, occasionally looking up at him and smiling. "You should have took the sweater."

o0o

The following day Kimberley waved to Lorne as she passed him in the hall way. "Heya, how are you?"

"Good, you?" Lorne replied, smiling at the slightly insane female.

"Can't complain." Kimberley continued to smile. "Where are you of to?"

"P3X-935." He replied off handedly.

"Which one is that?" Kimberley was confused.

"The one with all the trees." Lorne joked.

"Don't they all have trees?" She cocked her head to the side.

"This one has special trees." He grinned at an inside joke.

"Hokay then." Kimberleys smile returned to her face and she nodded. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Kimbo." He placed a hand on her shoulder and continued walking towards the gate room.

The slightly deranged one watched him go and turned to continue her walk, jumping at the sight of John and Dara in lip lock. "Gah I need brain bleach!"

John and Dara sprang apart, both trying to look as if they weren't snogging in the middle of Atlantis. Then they realised that it was just Kimberley.

"Hey, where you off to?" Dara asked, noting the flask and sandwich bag around her friends neck.

"To visit Carson." She replied.

John and Dara shared a look.

"What? Is there something wrong with the stasis pod?" She asked, fear flashing across her face.

Dara and John continued to share a look.

"Guys!" Kimberley demanded.

"Don't you think you're spending way too much time in the Stasis room?" Dara began.

Kimberley just looked at her friend.

"We haven't seen much of you lately." John continued. 'Is that really a bad thing?'

"I've been busy." Kimberley defended. "And so have you guys. sucking each others faces off when you think no ones looking. Finish your own damn work before saying to anyone else about theirs."

With a huff Kimberley turned on her heel and stalked away from the stunned couple towards a transporter.

"When did Kimberley grow a pair?" Dara asked, mainly to herself.

"You think it has to do with Carson?" John turned to her and raised an eye brow.

'Do I gotta tape that thing down?' Dara raised her own in return, then lowered it as she began to think out loud. "I don't think that's it, or even just the only reason."

"Has she said anything about what she does in there?" John asked. "I think she spends almost every minute that shes awake and not either on a mission, in a meeting or with you to sit in there."

"Can you blame her?" Dara replied. "When Kimberley gets into a relationship, she gives it her all. Add in the fact she's fancied and cared for him since before we all met, she's got a deep bond with him."

John suddenly smirked and reached for her. "You know what?"

"What?" Dara smiled.

"I think we should stop talking about those two, and start talking about us." He grinned.

"Just talk?" She flirted and giggled slightly as his hands tickled her neck.

o0o

Kimberley entered her old common room and frowned when she noticed Daras door was slightly ajar. Moving quietly she separated the two doors and stuck her head in, frowning some more as she made out that the shape that was sitting on the bed was Dara. "Dara?"

"Huh?" Dara asked, swiping the tears from her eyes. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" She asked, stepping closer to her friend, sitting on the bed a few feet from her.

"Yeah, fine, why wouldn't I be?" Dara demanded.

"Just wondering." Kimberley wisely replied, then smiled to her. "I'm going down for some dinner, if you want to go talk to someone?"

"What, you?" Dara snarked, then sighed. "Sorry its just-"

"No, don't worry about it, its fine." Kimberley replied, smiling still. "But you need to talk to someone Dara, why not talk to someone who won't say anything?"

Dara nodded and watched her friend nod to herself before getting up and leaving.

o0o

Dara exited the puddle jumper and made her way towards the stasis room. She spotted Mack guarding the door and gave him a stern look.

He scampered off.

Grinning to herself Dara walked up to the active stasis chamber and pulled a chair over, sitting down softly and looked at her popsicle for a friend.

She sat in a comfortable silence, trying to figure out what to say. In the end, she looked up at him and nodded. "Hey Carson..."

o0o

Rodney looked up from his data pad as he entered a room automatically, and paused.

There was a blanket behind one of the consoles and a few notebooks, but no one was in the room except for him, the equipment, and the still frozen Carson.

Rodney placed the data pad on the work top and walked over to the clone of his friend, his dead friend, and stopped a few feet from it, sad thoughts entering his mind.

He thought about how this time last year even he was still grieving over his best friend, and now he had him back, sort of.

Coming to a stop completely, his mind went blank. Nothing was going through his mind, no equations, no lists of things for him to do, people he was to shout at - nothing.

Instead images of times they had spent together flashed his mind, and Rodney decided to open his heart. "I know Kimberley does this, and, I suppose she hasn't known you as long as I have, but it seems to help her."

He smiled unsurely at him, then turned to look at the door that remained open. Slowly he turned back around. "I feel like I just got you back and then you had to go away again. Its, its not fair. Then again, the statistics of the IOA letting you stay here anyway would be, erm, small, to say the least."

Rodney trailed off and looked at his friends slightly smiling face, recognising the pain behind the smile and smiled despite himself. "You knew Kimberley would be coming here to talk with you or visits you every day, so you're keeping up a hard front huh? I-I, that's one major difference between us. Apart from the whole, Wraith-clone and stuck in an ice cube thing."

He winced at how crass that was, and was thankful that Carson (or anyone for that matter) couldn't see or hear him.

"For whats itis worth, and I know I never said it, but I'm glad you're with us. Not like this but, ah, there's still a chance, small, slim chance, but a chance none the less, that you'll eh, come out of this intact." Rodney tried to smile, allowing his misty eyes to avert to the blanket and sheets of paper lying on the floor. "Kimberley misses you. And Dara too, I suppose. She never talks about it, her feelings I mean. She should. John misses you, a-and everyone else. Not as much as me though. Since you were my, I mean, are, my best friend."

Rodney turned to look at him quickly. "We are still best friends right? Cause I don't think anyone else can keep up with my mind jumps, not even Sam. Sometimes the girls come close but, uh, they're not as smart as, not that anyone is, but they can't make as many leaps as me so, yeah..."

He turned back to his frozen friend.

"I'll take care of them." Rodney whispered, placing a hand on the glass and smiled to his sleeping friend. "Until you're better and can keep them under control. So just a little while. I mean, whats the worst they could do?"

Klaxons sounded.

Rodney groaned. "Oh crap I just jinxed my self."


	25. Baby sitting Kimberley Style

Dara turned as she heard someone shouting on her. John paused as he reached the alternate earthling. "What?"

"So tonight's the second Saturday of the month." John spoke quietly to Dara, who looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you want? And what is it going to cost me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as he tried to grin innocently.

"What on Atlantis makes you say something like that?" He wanted to know.

"John?"

"Yes?"

"You're you, and I'd like to think I know you pretty damn well."

John laughed, and then rubbed the back of his neck. "Is there any chance the gang and I can use your common room tonight for our usual team night?"

"Why can't you use your normal room?" Dara pondered.

"The ceiling is too unstable because a certain someone keeps landing on it." John replied.

Dara nodded. "Okay, what time will you guys be there for?"

"Oh, about seven." John replied. 'Ish.'

o0o

At six o'clock, that night Kimberley dragged Dara into her room. "What the hell are the guys doing here?"

"Team night." Dara replied, moving to walk back into the room, kangarooing back as Kimberley grabbed her arm.

"I mean why are they in our common room?" The Scottish one asked,

"That's what you get for ruining their usual room." Dara replied, giving her the look.

Kimberley let her go and whispered 'oh', before grabbing her laptop. "If you need me I'll be on the balcony."

"Just don't jump off." Dara replied, leaving her friends room and, ignoring John and Ronon, walked straight to her room.

"Hey Dara." Rodney spoke loud enough to cause her to pause in her tracks. Slowly she turned around to look at him. "Why don't you join us?"

"It's a team night for a reason." Dara declined, and then jutted a thumb towards her room. "Now I gotta go do stuff in my room, really busy, bu-bye."

Daras face fell as she felt someone wrap their arms around her and lift her from the ground, deposit her on the couch next to John. Turning around she glared at Ronon.

Ronon smirked at her.

"I hope you're happy." She continued to glare, and then motioned to the door. "Are you getting Kimberley in here too?"

The Sedetan nodded, ignoring John's groan of annoyance and headed for her door, knocking on it, then ran a hand over the crystals. He turned to the group. "McKay, open it up."

"What if she's indecent?" Rodney replied, standing up all the same and walked over.

"She's more than likely got her earphones in." Dara pointed out from her spot next to John, scotching over to put her legs closer to her chest.

Rodney rolled his eyes and muttered something, stepping back as the door was opened and Ronon stepped inside the room.

John bit back a grin as Ronon walked backwards holding Kimberleys laptop on one hand, his gun trained on it, and Kimberley walked with her headphones still in, watching a video on the computer.

Dara frowned. "What are you watching?"

Kimberley ignored her, considering she had her earphones plugged in.

"Is that McKay in his birthday suit?" Ronon asked, looking at the computer strangely, catching Kimberleys attention. "Why do you have a video clip of _McKay_, in his birthday suit?"

Kimberley muttered something about a Dogs Breakfast and narrowly missed Johns shoe as it was thrown at her. "What? It isn't Atlantis centered! That was the rules!"

Dara muttered something about 'not the point' and Kimberley didn't pay any attention, sitting down on her couch and accepting a bowl of popcorn, placing it on the seat beside her and turned the volume up.

o0o

_"Chose." the alien leader demanded._

_Kimberley stared at horror; how could she choose between Dara, who was her best friend and the man that Dara cared about? Either way she would have been better off killing the other. "I can't!"_

_"Then they will both die." He replied, calmly raising the stolen .38 and aimed it at John, pulled the trigger, then aimed it at Dara, pulling the trigger once more._

o0o

With a gasp Kimberley sat up, bowl of popcorn flying from her lap. 'Oh my God.'

Ronon turned to look at her from his spot on the floor. "You okay?"

Kimberley swallowed and looked to where John and Dara where sitting on the other couch, sleeping peacefully.

"Kimberley." Ronon bent his head back and looked up at her, frowning as he noticed how pale she was. "Hey Kimberley!"

"Yeah, what?" She asked, snapping her attention to him, mouth twitching. "Sorry Ronon."

"Will you two spot yakking?" Rodney turned around from his spot beside Jennifer and gawped. "You do know you're supposed to eat the popcorn Ronon, right?"

"My fault." Kimberley replied, making hand movements for Ronon to move. "Back in a bit."

"Where you going?" Dara asked with a yawn, stretching and smacking John at the same time.

"Hey!"

"Watch the hands."

"You didn't -"

"Finish that sentence and you're for it."

"Sorry ma'am." John ducked his head.

Dara rolled her eyes. "So where are you going?"

Kimberley pointed to her room. "Jim jams."

The group settled back to their original positions, not waiting for her to come back before resuming play on the movie.

o0o

Ronon cracked an eye open as the front door hissed open, revealing Kimberley in a jogging suit. She entered the room quietly and walked passed the still on TV, pausing at the last second to turn it off, and then look over them. She jumped once she realized he was watching her.

Biting her lip, she waited for him to say or do something.

Eventually he nodded to her and she smiled faintly.

Quickly she crossed the room and passed her hand over the control panel. Glancing back she spotted John and Dara out cold on the couch, and Rodney had an arm wrapped around Jennifer. Teylas blanket was empty, but looking at the time she figured she had went back to her room to be with Kanaan and Torren.

For some reason she looked to where Ronon was sitting and frowned as she couldn't see him. 'Wasn't he just-' "Gah!"

Ronon stood right beside her. He motioned for her to go into her room.

With a glare, she entered the room, and then closed it quickly.

It opened back up seconds later.

"Out." She pointed, glancing around incase she had woken anyone up.

"Where did you go?" He asked.

"To bake a cake. What does it look like?" She snapped. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing." He shrugged. "But you had a nightmare. Just making sure that evil Sheppard wasn't back."

"Just your normal, run of the mill nightmare." Kimberley shook her head, and smiled thinly at him. "Go back to the common room."

"What made you go for a run?" He asked, causing her to stop walking completely into her room.

She turned to look at him and smiled sweetly. "None of your God damned business."

Dara sat up, causing John to go flying off the couch and into Rodney, who spluttered and whacked Jennifer in the face. "I feel a disturbance in the force."

Turning, she observed the group entangled on the floor and raised an eyebrow. "Playing Twister without me? Or the mat?"

o0o

Two weeks later it was time for the gang to meet for their twice monthly 'we survived anther few weeks/we had a semi successful mission/team movie night' (with guests). Tonight they were going old school and watching some of Dara and Kimberleys collections.

It was the girls turn to pick, and they had decided to let Jennifer chose, because she was the one that had to patch Teyla and Rodney up after the latest escapade with the not so friendly locals.

"Star Wars again?" Jennifer asked hopefully.

Rodney pulled a face.

"Well it's either that or Beautician and the Beast." She waved the large laser disc towards him.

"Why are we watching these antiquated things again?" Rodney demanded.

Dara jutted a finger towards Kimberley, who was poured over several psychology textbooks. As if knowing one of the smartest men in two galaxies was glaring at her, Kimberley paused, threw up a middle finger, and then resumed her note taking.

"I think it's a nice idea. Kinda feels like we've gone back in time." Jennifer smiled, and then it faded. "But not in the 'our life and entire future is threatened because we need to get back without changing a single thing' kinda way."

"It may be 'nice'." Rodney pulled a face as Jennifer turned away. "But to hose of us who living in the 21st century and are used to watching a movie without having to change the disc over."

"Auto changer." Kimberley hollered, and then turned to look at him. "It may be old, but like some scientists around here, it does have some uses."

"Like what?" He challenged, and then realized the insult. "Hey!"

"Well, for one, it'll play all the laser discs and DVDs we can get our mitts on." Kimberley explained. "And it's the one thing Catherine won't touch if we ever take it back home, because it's 'out dated technology'."

"Out dated is right." He grumbled to himself.

"Rodney; play nice." Jennifer chided.

"Kimberley, I have a small favor to ask." Teyla placed hand on the slightly insane females arm as she passed her on the way to her seat.

"Sure Teyla, what's up?" Kimberley replied.

"Could you possibly watch Torren for Kanaan and I tomorrow tonight?" Teyla asked. "I am aware that it is very short notice but something has come up on the main land that needs our attention."

"Sure, I'd love to baby sit the little guy." Kimberley replied.

Teyla frowned. "I wish for you to watch him, not sit on him."

"But I meant-uh-hasn't John-never mind." Kimberley sighed and shook her head. "It's a Kimbo thing."

"Oh, so it is not a weird Earth saying?" Teyla enquired.

"Uh, no?" She replied, unsure where to go with that. "What time do you want me to pick him up at?"

"Will six o'clock be alright?" Teyla asked.

"Sure, the common room?" Kimberley bobbed her head. "Will he have dinner with you before hand or not?"

"I shall feed him; I have noticed that if anyone else attempts to do so they tend to wear his dinner." Teylas lips twitched.

"Good idea. That baby food may look yummy, but it's a pain in the aft to get out of your hair." She grimaced in response.

o0o

The doorbell chimed and then the door opened, revealing Teyla, Kanaan and Torren.

They looked around the room and frowned at all the objects on the floor, Kimberley tossing more and more from her bedroom door. Finally, Teyla cleared her throat.

Kimberley looked up. "Uh, hey guys, how are ya?"

"We are well." Kanaan answered, inclining his head and looked to Teyla before stepping inside the room, watching the balls and bears at his feet as he made his way to the strange Earthling.

"Oh, six already?" Kimberley asked, standing up and brushing her clothes off, missing their shared grin. Looking up she smiled and motioned for Torren. "I've got a bunch of educational toys for him, and a few games lined up to hopefully knackered him out for bed. What time do you think you will be back?"

"Before the next moon." Kanaan replied, and nodded his head at Kimberleys look of panic. "Was the joke funny?"

'Joke? Oh!' "Oh yeah, took me a second there, that was quite fast Kanaan!" Kimberley bobbed her head.

"Does Dara know that you have corrupted my life partner?" Teyla inclined her head.

"Hopefully not." Kimberley grinned, holding her hands out to accept the young Athosian child from his mother. "And I'll have him in one piece."

Teyla smiled unsurely at Kimberley, then she and Kanaan left the room.

Torren began to gurgle un happily.

"Hey hey Kiddo, no need for tears!" Kimberley smiled to him, throwing him in the air and catching him causing him to panic and stop moaning, then giggle and laugh as Kimberley made faces at him.

o0o

An hour later Dara entered the common room to pick up the baby blanket she had left the previous night and looked around for her friend who was ignoring the calls on her earpiece and froze as she heard baby giggling.

Torren looked at Kimberley.

Kimberley looked at Torren.

She spotted the duo, Torren standing with one of Kimberleys Eeyore bears in his hands, Kimberley lying on the floor with a mini sparring stick.

Dara backed away slowly.

Kimberley looked up as the door hissed and spotted the time. She grabbed Torren and entered her room, depositing the tired child on her bed and watched him fight sleep before cuddling up to Eeyore and lying on the bed.

She looked over to the balcony door and smiled as she spotted the lock on it, then turned around to place Daras blankie over his body, smiling as he snuggled into it.

Then she looked around the common room and her face dropped. Gabbing a clothesbasket she dumped the clothes next to Torren, entered the common room, methodologically making her way through the mess, and put the toys into her basket, stacking up the shoes and knickknacks that Torren had been playing with before returning to the room.

And dropped the basket in shock as she looked at the bed. 'Where the heck is Torren!'

o0o

The doorbell chime went off.

Kimberley paused, straining to hold the couch up in the air, mystified at the fact there was a pair of socks underneath her couch. 'If I wasn't so preoccupied I could kill them! MY COUCH!'

"Where is Torren?" Teyla asked, the surprise causing Kimberley to drop the couch with a thud.

"Huh, what?" Kimberley whirled around on the spot. "Who?"

"Torren, where is my son?" Teyla asked, stepping closer and searching around the room.

"You have a son?" Kimberley blinked, stepping away from the mother.

"Kimberley, I will ask once more." Teyla stopped and gave the female her full attention. "Where is my son?"

"Er well, you see, the thing is I-er-I-um." Kimberley was becoming paler and paler, backing away from the completely annoyed mother who was advancing towards her with one thing in her mind. "I can explain!"

"Explain _what_?" Teyla asked.

The door whooshed open behind them. They turned to look at Rodney, who held Torren close to his chest. "That is the last time I do a favor for you."

"Um, thanks Rodney!" Kimberley smiled to him and rushed over, taking Torren from him and hugging the stuffing out of the

"Oh you so owe me." Rodney smirked to her as soon as Teyla left.

"Where was he?" Kimberley demanded, hugging the scientist in happiness.

"Wandering in the balcony." Rodney replied.

'How did he get there?' She asked herself, and then caught his look. "What are you planning?"

Rodney snapped his facial expression clear and simply nodded. "Nothing too strenuous for your brain."

"Okay." Kimberley nodded, and then glared. "Hey!"


	26. Gang Bumps Into Michael

Teyla inclined her head to Kimberley as she packed more and more into her backpack. "I will not be above to carry all- is that one of Ronons hunting knifes?"

Kimberley smiled nervously and slipped it into her tack vest holder before testing the weight of the backpack. "Its only five kilo."

"Has anyone told her that it's just a meet and greet?" John asked as the alternate earthling began removing bundles of rope, chewing gum and paper clips from Teylas pack.

Dara shrugged from her position at the console. "What can I say, it's Kimberley."

"Still its a bit over- why the hell would we need a brick?" John was confused. He turned to Dara with an eyebrow raised. "Please tell me you aren't freaked out?"

"Nope." Dara popped the 'p' and messed about with the consoles search engine. "But come back dead and I'll kill you."

John wisely said nothing but nodded.

Sam exited her office and nodded to the duo, then looked down at the gate room. "Almost ready to go col?"

"Almost, just waiting on Ronon to be approved for the mission." John replied. 'Who knew he was allergic to the Racdons droppings?'

Sam nodded and turned to look at Dara. "How are things?"

"Alright." She replied, looking at the col in charge and her brows furrowed. "Why?"

"No reason." Sam smiled, then paused as she observed the groups goings on below. "Is that a rubber dingy?"

"It is in case we fall into a river." Teyla tried to rescue Kimberley, having heard Sams shocked exclamation.

"I think I have to have a talk with her about items that can and can not go off world." Sam stated.

Dara snorted. "Good luck with that."

"How are you two doing anyway, after the eh, fight and incident the other day?" Sam rephrased.

'Oh for the love of-oh right, me and Kimberley!' "We're good, considering she's in one of her moods." Dara nodded.

"Moods?" Sam was curious.

"Did you not see the flare gun in the back pack of the things can and will go wrong?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

Before anyone could reply to that, the transporter door opened and Ronon stepped out. As he fought the urge to scratch, he rolled his shoulders. "We going?"

Quickly everyone gathered and got to where they were supposed to be. Kimberley hugged Teyla then waved to the men before they stepped through the Stargate.  
o0o  
As the wormhole disengaged Johns brow furrowed as he looked around at the bright sun, the birds in the sky, and no villagers there to greet them. "Where is everyone?"

"I'm reading life signs about a click away." Rodney replied and put his technology back in his pack with a sigh. "Can we radio for a jumper?"

"That would waste too much time. The sooner we are there the sooner we can rest." Teyla tried to encourage Rodney, who just shrugged and began walking.  
o0o  
After arriving in the village the group noticed that the villagers regarded them oddly from the first time the arrived.

"Did we do something the last time we were here?" John asked Rodney, who shrugged.

"You had an illicit rendezvous with the chieftain's daughter, but that was about it." Rodney replied.

"Hey, hey!" Ronon yelled as a group of the aliens jumped on him, bounding his hands together with his feet and capturing them all.

The villagers looked at the settlers from the home of the ancestors and began speaking amongst them selves.

John turned from where he was tied up next to Teyla and tried to plead with the local chieftain's daughter. "Please Melerna; let us go, for old time's sake?"

"Will you marry my daughter?" the chief asked, then nodded his head as john shook his head. "Contact the wraith."

"Marry her!" Rodney hissed.

"You can explain to Dara when we get home then." john hissed to him, wincing at the thought of the conversation.

"But they are calling the wraith!" Rodney yelled at him.

"Can I hit him?" Ronon asked Teyla, who shook her head.

"We will need him to help us escape." She replied.

"Damn." He growled, groaning and seizing as he was shot several times from behind.  
o0o  
John groaned as he came to, shaking his head to clear the last dregs of the after effects from the wraith stunner from his brain. He looked around the room and sighed in relief at the sight of his teammate sitting around the room.

As his eyes began to close, again he could swear he could feel something wasn't right with the force.  
o0o  
"I don't like this." Dara stated to Kimberley as she finished zipping up her camouflage BDUs up.

"Oh what's the worst that could happen?" Kimberley asked as she bent down to pick up her backpack, knocking her 9 mill under the worktop, grinning to Dara as thought she didn't see her.

Dara handed her another 9 mill and a TAC vest. "Nice try. And I don't like the fact that you and John are off world at the same time, just makes me think that something is going to go wrong."

"Kimberley is going off world with Brent's old team; nothing happens to them off world, it's just him that gets concussions." Chuck supplied from behind the safety of the console.

"Not helping." Kimberley hissed at him.

"She gets more concussions than what the other teams get added together!" Dara was starting to panic now.

"Ready to go?" Sam asked as she appeared at their side.

"Yup, just waiting for Dara to stop freaking out." Kimberley nodded and tapped her gun at her side nervously.

Sam nodded then spotted the piece of artillery. "Does that have bullets in it?"

"Think so." Kimberley shrugged.

"Yes, it does." Dara replied, and then let out a huff of air as her friend hugged the stuffing out of her. "Ugh. Stay safe right?"

"If you don't you can kill me yourself." Kimberley nodded and let her go, waved to the others in the team that she was going to be working with.

Dara nodded to the group, and then frowned. 'Why do I feel like I should be asking them for their autographs?'

Kimberley waved one more time then turned to place a hand on the gate, shouting in exclamation as the leader of the group Lt Col Gerard Way. pushed her forward.

Shaking her head Dara decided just to walk away, leaving all her troubles and worries with the two teams off world. 'What are the chances that they will meet anyway? They're just off to do a simple meet and greet, and they're off to explore an abandoned hive ship.'

Dara returned to the gate room and made a beeline for Sam's office. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'  
o0o  
"So this is an abandoned hive?" Kimberley asked as they made their way through their C4 made door. "And nothings going to jump out and Angel us?"

"Hope not." Leader snorted.

"Wouldn't be the worst thing to happen." Two replied.

"True, but more of that was Coles fault." Three replied.

"Oh no again." One groaned. "If he hadn't got us all together I wouldn't be the leader of the team."

"Yeah, like you need more of an ego." Four chipped in.

Kimberley laughed as the four bantered about like siblings, and then stopped laughing as she bumped into someone's chest.

"What are the chances that we are about to bump into Col. Sheppard?" Kimberley asked them, then poked one eye open and shrieked, paling as she looking into the eyes of Michael.  
The sound of stunners being aimed was the last thing she heard before darkness consumed her.  
o0o  
Michael withdrew some blood from Kimberley, and noted to himself that she was beginning to awaken. Turning to Nate, he motioned for him to step closer. "Keep an eye on the female."

"By any means necessary?" Nate asked, inclining his head in hope.

Michael just stared at him. "Keep the female in here. If she escapes you will not exist very much longer."

"Yes father." Nate nodded.

"Not much of a dad is he?" Kimberley asked when Michael left, causing Nate to turn around and glare at her. "What?"

"Be quiet child." Nate sneered at her.

"Hey you're only like a year or so old, so don't call me a child you baby!" Kimberley stuck her tongue out at him, then eeped as he stepped closer to her, and tried to wriggle away from him while still being connected to the hive wall.

Nate stopped inches from her and sneered down at Kimberley.

Kimberley looked up at him and tried to keep her thoughts in line and think of ways of escaping, but her mind continued to panic.

"You are a pathetic human." Nate continued to sneer at her.

"Hey you're made up of like a bunch of us, what does that say about you?" Kimberley seethed.

"I am thankful that I have none of your DNA, you could not fight your way out of a cocoon." Nate insulted.

"Let me otta this one and I'll show ya who cannae fight ya dumb basterd!" Kimberley yelled and struggled with the organic bonds.

"I think not, I do not trust you, and I enjoy seeing you squirm like a bug." He raised a hand and placed it over her chest, grinning as her face paled and her thrashing increased.

"Mikey said not to hurt me!" She yelled, eyes going wide as a wrist became free.

"Father said I was to keep you here, he said nothing about in one piece or several." Nate answered, placing his hand on her chest.

"HEY!" Kimberley smacked him with her free arm, then as he spun and crashed to the ground, worked on clawing her self free. 'I wish I didn't bite my nails now!'

Nate stood slowly and brought his hand to his mouth, wiping away the thin trail of blood that had leaked as he had crashed to the ground, and glared at the pain. "You will pay for that."

"Cash, plastic or IOU?" Kimberley asked and threw herself away from the wall to free herself, pausing for a second to congratulate herself before 'eeping' and running as Nate sprang towards her.  
o0o  
Way groaned as he came too. He looked around the cell that they were in and shook his head. "I thought once we got rid of Cole we'd be good?"

"Don't look at me bro; everyone knows she's as bad as Cole for concussions." His brother commented.

"Great, now we gotta get out of here and find the girl before getting back. This missions been a bust." Way shook his head.

"Uh, hate to be a pessimist but Four isn't doing too good." Three commented, pointed to Four who was huddled in a corner shaking.

"How many times was he zatted?" Way asked.

"I think about three or four times." Three answered.

"Damn it!" Way cursed, looking around the cell one more time in the hopes that Kimberley had magically appeared.  
o0o  
Kimberley placed a boot on Nates back, pressed down, holding one of his arms behind his back, and applied pressure. "Say uncle!"

"I will kill you!" Nate seethed to her.

Kimberley smirked and stood up on the foot that was on his back, applying even more weight and pressure to the Wraith clone.

"That is enough." Michael stated as he entered the room.

Kimberley looked up in surprise at him, giving Nate enough time to throw her off of him and onto the floor.

Michael stepped closer to the other male and laid a hand on his shoulder. "That is enough."

He bent down to Kimberley and extended a hand as she tried to stand up herself. She glanced quickly at Nate before smiling at Michael and taking his hand and allowing him to help her up.

"Kimberley, how is it that you were able to best my son, who was made from the best fighters in two realities?" Michael pondered.

Kimberley shrugged. "Well, I am female, and since he doesn't have any of my crazy, it's a disadvantage to him."

Michael nodded. "Why did you not look to my hand as you took it? I could have been trying to feed upon you."

"Because you were being helpful. You want me for research, and I don't think seeing how the wraith of this universe will respond to feeding from an Alternate reality female is one of those questions." Kimberley responded, and then brushed of the imaginary Dara on her shoulder screaming 'Rule 62! Rule 62!'

"That is an interesting hypothesis." Michael stated, head cocking slight to the side.

"But an ever more interesting one would be the psychological differences between the two realities, as these two females are more likely to become your friend than try and shoot you." Kimberley stated as she began to back away from Michael.

Michael nodded. He turned to Nate. "Do not harm her. I shall return with the device."

"Device? What device? Mikey what-" She paused at his glare. "Sorry, Michael, what device?"

Michael just smirked.

'Oh crap I need to get out of here.' Kimberley thought to herself, watching him leave then looked around the room before turning to Nate. She bit her lip and then took some inspiration from her hero, Donna Noble.

Slowly she walked over to Nate and smiled shyly at him. "You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we should start over?"

Nate glared down at her, and then turned away from her with a huff.

Kimberley walked around and placed a hand on his arm, trailing her fingers along his arm and bicep. "You know Nate, you're very human. And handsome."

"Flirting will not save you." Nate hissed at her.

"Who says I need or want saving?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked to him, slowly backing him into a wall.

Nate allowed her to push him to the wall and watched transfixed as she bit her lip, then reached forward to push some of her hair from her face.

"I should have put it in a bobble." Kimberley sighed.

Nate said nothing but placed it behind her ear, and allowed his body to follow his brains automatic reactions and bent down to kiss her.

Kimberley accepted the kiss and moved her head to give him more access, her legs moving to spread his.

One of Nates hands pulled her to him while the other played with her hair at the base of her neck.

Kimberley smirked into the kiss and jerked her knee upwards, throwing her head forward as he bent forward and watching him slide to the ground before kicking him in the side, winding him. With a look of disgust she wiper her mouth, shook her body, then grabbed her backpack as she high tailed it out of there.  
o0o  
After walking for a while, Kimberley poked her head around a familiar corner and smiled to Major Way as she spotted him in the cell. "What cha doing in there?"

"Can you get us out?" He asked, glancing behind him. "Pelissier doesn't look too good."

Kimberley glanced at Pelissier who was white as a sheet and mumbling about pigeons and nodded, walking to one of the walls and brought out a small kitchen knife, and started plunging it at the console.

Toror groaned as he watched her. "It's a little more to the- right."

"C'mon guys, I'll scout ahead." Kimberley smiled and paused until they were all on their feet before walking quickly the way she had came.  
o0o  
John continued to stare outside the cell, nodding to Kimberley as she passed.

Wait

'What?' He jumped up and rushed forward the same time Kimberley walked backwards and stared at him, then poked him with her finger. "Get us outta here!"

"What happened to your peaceful mission?" She asked. "Bet you wish you had a flare gun now, huh?"

Everyone looked to one another confused before Rodney asked what they were all thinking. "Why would we need a flare gun for?"

"To shoot in the face of the Wraith, duh!" She returned and moved to the wall, doing the same method of closing her eyes and sticking the knife in repeatedly until the power went out or the cell door went up.

"Kimberley, that's the wrong console." Rodney stuck his head out to inform her.

"Oops." She replied and moved to the correct one, closed her eyes and prayed her strike was true.  
o0o  
"Sir, we just lost power in sector seven G." One of his Michaels men informed him.

"Why do I have the feeling my son has allowed that girl to escape his clutches once more?" Michael spoke mostly to himself as he walked through the command room and towards the holding cells.  
o0o  
John led the two teams, with Kimberley in the middle. Rodney kept glancing back at the time and Major Way finally noticed and snapped. "What?"

"Nothing its jut, you look a lot like this band that Dara has pictures of in her room." Rodney replied quickly.

Kimberley poked him. "What were you doing in Daras room?"

"Nothing of importance." Rodney returned instantly.

"No, what were you doing in my girlfriend's room?" John stopped to ask.

'Men!' Kimberley rolled her eyes.

"Ha! Pay up bro!" Major Way said to his brother, who grumbled and passed over a power bar.

"Seriously, do you guys have nothing better to do than bet?" Kimberley asked them, still peeved that no one would tell her where the new bets were being placed.

"Maybe I should assign you some new work?" John asked them, resuming their walk after a soldier stumbled upon them, and Ronons gun.

"We're good!" Pelissier croaked out, then his head slumped forward as he passed out between the two Way brothers.

"Told you we should have started a group." Way muttered to his brother, still smarting that he lost the bet. He was so sure Baldwin would have shacked up with Dex!

They walked together, Ronon killing random Wraith, until they found them selves face to face with Nate, who appeared from the shadows and grabbed Kimberley.

"You are fast becoming one of my least favorite humans." Nate growled to her.

"Yay!" She rolled her eyes, and then gulped as he brought a gun to her neck. "What are you doing?"

"Something that my father should have done months ago." He growled and the gun began to whine as it began to heat up.

Kimberley kept her eyes open as she stares at Michael, wincing as John orders Michael to order Nate to let her go, cringing s Nate dug his nails deeper into her. Tears gathered in her eyes as she thought of Carson waking up to find her dead before she blinked them away. 'He'd probably be better off without me.'

A red light singed past her and she fought the urge to move as Ronons gun blasted just above her head and buried itself in Nates head, brain matter and goo splattering the back of her head.

With a thud, she realized that it was Nates dead body hitting the deck.

Leader rushed over to her and grabbed her by her arms, pulling her to safety as more drones appeared.

Michael stared at the dead body of his son, then to the female that had caused it and he narrowed his eyes.

Something dawned between them. Kimberley could feel Michaels hatred pouring off him in waves, Michael could feel her relief and sorry.

Michael took a step forward, smirking as she tensed, then frowned as he could not access her thoughts like previous. Then he nodded to them. "Go."

Not looking the gift horse in the mouth the Atlantis group took them out, Ronon training his gun on any and all wraith as Way and Leto guided the quiet Kimberley through the hive.

Exiting the hive the two groups quickly made their way to the gate, pausing as the apparently dead hive ship flew into the atmosphere.

"Hold on." John ordered and the group stopped. He reached over and made to brush the chunks of head from Kimberley, bringing his hand back as she flinched. "We should get this stuff off of you before you catch something."

"Can we just get through the gate please?" Kimberley replied, eyes downcast.

"It would be wise." Teyla agreed, noting the steering sun. "Perhaps the DNA will aid your scientists."

"Look can we argue about this, oh I don't know, any where but here where we are sitting entrées!" Rodney snapped and they turned again towards the way of the stargate.  
o0o  
Dara stared as team one came through with team fifteen and Kimberley, taking a double take at the sight of Kimberley wearing someone's head entrails.

As she rushed down the stairs she could hear Jennifer ask the question that she was about to ask.

"What the hell happened out there?" Jennifer finished as Dara came to a stop and moved to raise a hand to brush some entrails from her shoulder.

Kimberleys hand snapped out and hit it away, and then she winced at the red color that stuck to her wrist and groaned. "Do you know how hard it is to get blood off of your skin?"

"No, and why do you?" Dara asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, never mind." Kimberley smiled widely, and turned to Jennifer. "Is it okay if I go for a shower before I get my check up, being covered in infectious stuff?"

"You should keep it for the head of biological research; they'll want to take a look at it." Jennifer replied, and then frowned as Kimberley glared at her. "What?"

"So you've replaced Carson already?" The venom in Kimberleys voice was startling.

"What? No! I-I'm sorry I forgot." Jennifer stuttered.

"Hey leave her alone." Rodney intervened.

"I'm going to shower, piss aff." Kimberley returned, leaving the group staring at her as she left.

"What was that about?" John blinked.

"Honestly!" Dara rolled her eyes and left the group to find her friend.  
o0o  
Dara entered the shower room that was in the old common room and looked around for Kimberley. She frowned as she spotted the still fully clothed female sitting on the edge of the tub, looking intently at the water, one hand skimming across the water.

Dara nodded to her. "Hey."

"Gyah!" She exclaimed and fell into the tub.

Dara darted forward and after struggling for a few seconds Kimberley was soaked but out of the tub, sitting on the floor and looking as thought she was feeling sorry for herself.

CLICK!

"Just wait till Carson gets a look at this!" Dara grinned.

Kimberleys face fell and she turned to look at the door. "Yeah."

"Hey!" Dara whacked her friends arm. "He wakes up, don't forget that."

Kimberley rubbed her arm and continued to stare

Dara snapped her fingers in front of her face.

Kimberley threw a loofah at her.

"Hey!" Dara exclaimed and tossed it back at her, grinning as she smiled. "C'mon, you know I hate you in a downer."

"Yeah..." Kimberley nodded and began to get back on her train of though.

"C'mon, I'll help you with your paper work." Dara stood up and turned in time to see Kimberleys leg twitch and grinned as she accepted her hand.


	27. Jennifers Seed

Jennifer Keller nodded to Kimberley as she slung her bag over her shoulder, glad for the help with the Athosian kids to get their shots.

'Everything would be so much easier if Carson was here, everyone trusted- trusts him.' She thought to herself and shook her head before pouring over the notes and slides that she, Carson and the entire genetics department had been working on.  
o0o  
Rodney entered the infirmary, then walked back out again, then back in as Kimberley nodded to Ronon who held a gun to his back.

"Thanks for doing this." She whispers to him and watch him nod. "Why are you doing this?"

Ronon shrugged. "McKay really likes her."

Kimberley glanced to make sure Rodney was making his way to Jennifers office and nodded to Brent and Mack, who were hovering over Evan, who then moved to flank the scientist to make sure he got in to the doctors office. She turned back to Ronon and motioned for him to step outside with her. "Are you sure your okay with this?"

Ronon nodded. "I'll see you in an hour for weapons training."

"Kay." Kimberley nodded, then grinned as she remembered she was supposed to meet Colonel Carter in an hours time.

"And I've already got you clear from Carter." Ronon called as he walked away.

'Damn it!' Kimberley cursed in her head, then shook the appendage as she entered the infirmary and Jennifers office. 'Can't get anything past him- what's that on Jens hand?'

Jennifer looked up from where she and Rodney had been washing the web like substance from her hand. "I can explain."

Kimberley stared at them for a few seconds before blinking and grabbing Macks radio. "Chuck its Kimbo, can you get the first team to the infirmary stat please? And Colonel Carter? And Zelenka? And Marie? Cheers."

"What's going on?" Rodney demanded.

"I'll explain in the meeting, c'mon!" She grabbed Jennifer by her other hand and dragged the two of them the long way to the meeting room.  
o0o  
John smiled to himself as he hugged Dara from behind. "Afternoon."

"Ugh, go away." Dara replied, curling into herself some more.

"I can think of another way to go..." He grinned, moving to kiss her bare shoulder when his ear piece came to life on the floor. Groaning he bent down and grabbed it, shoving it into his ear as he growled. "This is Sheppard, and this better be good."

Dara sat bolt up in bed as her phone went off. "Kimberley? What-hold on I can't-what? Shut up for a minute!"

They turned to each other at the same time and nodded, ending their respective calls before getting some clothes on.  
o0o  
Kimberley bounced her legs as she waited for everyone to meet up. As Zelenka and Marie entered, the last ones, she jumped up and pointed to Jennifer. "She's turning into a Hive ship!"

"What?" They demanded and turned to look at the doctor, who looked shocked and down at herself.

"And so is everyone that was M2S-445." Kimberley nodded to them.

"Is this correct?" Sam turned to Dara, who was still trying to process what her friend had said.

"What I want to know is why Kimberley is jumping about with a shit eating grin on her face when Doctor Keller is being made into a hive ship!" Rodney demanded.

"Because this is when you guys are supposed to thaw Carson out." Dara sighed. 'I hope we have progressed enough with his cure.'

"The cure will work!" Kimberley spoke as though reading Daras mind. "It fits the time line."

"Then you know what's coming next?" Dara tried to warn her friend.

"I'll worry about that later. He's getting dethawed!" She grinned and danced on the spot.

Dara, Teyla and Jennifer exchanged secret smiles. Jennifers smile turned confused. 'Hive ship?'  
o0o  
Kimberley waited inside the stasis room for everyone to arrive. She tapped her hand on her hip as she glanced over the diagnostic machines and wished for everyone to hurry up.

Finally she heard movement from the door and she grinned, starting to push the buttons she had been practicing for what seems like ages.

"What are you doing?" Rodney demanded, moving to move her away, stopping as Dara placed a hand on his shoulder. "She might-"

"She is not going to harm him." Teyla replied for Dara, then nodded to Mack and Brent to stand nearer the machine in case Carson fell out.

"I've been learning everything I could about this machine since I realised we would be needing it." Kimberley told the group and waved a finger in the air as though checking imaginary screens before picking a seemingly random button. "The ice will melt and retract. Get ready to steady him guys. Do you have the shot ready?"

Jennifer nodded and held the syringe between her gloved hands. She swallowed as the ice began to retract. "What happens if this doesn't work?"

"Then we have a few hours then put him back in there." Kimberley explains. "His insides will dethaw enough so that he will function without pain, but they won't fully wake up enough to start degrading if this doesn't work for a while."

Everyone turned from Carson to stare at Kimberley like she had just explained the meaning of life in Greek.

"What?" She asked, looking at them like they were going to shove her in a white coat.

"Nothing, just." Dara coughed into her hand, distracting John from answering.

"You might want to grab him." Dara pointed to Carson, who stumbled out of the stasis chamber.

'Carson!' Kimberley smiled to herself and walked over to him, grabbing him by the waist to stop him from falling over. Brent and Mack held on to his shoulders.

"Hullo Kimberley." He smiled to her, blinking to get himself awake.

"Hullo Carson." She replied, then guided him to a chair, stepping back to allow Jennifer to give him the injection.

Carson placed the heart monitor on and looked around the group, smiling to them, then looked confused. "What's with all the glum faces?"

"Oh, the gangs all infected because of Michaels back up plan of making a Hive ship from scratch, and Jennifer's infected really bad." Kimberley replied.

Dara smacked a hand to her face. 'That girl!'

"You-you cannae be serious?" Carson stood up and his heart monitor went through the roof. "He got that tae wurk?"

"So you do know about it." Sam nodded to herself.

"Aye. He was trying to combat the problem of no having any ships that they could control without any hacking or issues, but the only way of doing that was to make one from an organic source. He never could work out the right source." Carson trailed off, thinking about the men and women that Michael had experimented on, with his help.

"Hey." Kimberley whispered to him, placed a hand under his chin and making him look at her. She smiled to him. "Its okay. It doesn't make it any better, but no one blames you."

His heart monitor skipped a beat, and several of them in the room rolled their eyes.

"Isn't it so romantic?" Dara sighed.

"Uh Dara, you feeling okay?" John looked at her oddly.

Dara grinned. "I wanted to see how it felt to say that."

"And?" He asked.

Dara pulled a face. "Didn't like it."

The group laughed.  
o0o  
As Carson worked on getting Jennifer and the gang one hundred percent better (with the notes supplied by Dara) Kimberley hovered over him like a mother with a new born child.

After half an hour of her simply staring at him from the corner of the room while trying to connect the dots from Daras notes, he sighed and walked over to her.

Kimberley looked at him alarmed. "What are you doing walking?"

Carson bit back a grin as she guided him to a chair, her smaller hand resonating heat in his larger one. "What's wrong?"

"Huh?" She replied, looking at him, then looked to the ground. "Nothing."

"Kimburley, you kin tell me." He smiled, hoping that it was reassuring her, then frowned. "Yer no pregnant are ye?"

"What? No!" She replied, biting her lip as she stared at him sadly. "Its just, now your awake, I'm going to, I mean, we're going to loose you."

"Say what?" He demanded.

"Now you're insides are stable and aren't going to turn to goo, Woolsey's going to ship you out of here and back to Earth so you can recuperate better." Her face finally fell and tears came to her eyes.

"How long was I out for?" Carson asked Sam, who looked at Kimberley confused.

"Is that what happened the last time?" She asked, glancing at Dara who nodded while rolling her eyes at her friend. "I'm in charge, and the best people to keep an eye on his health and make sure he gets the best treatment without drafting someone in and explaining everything to them are here, on Atlantis."

"S-so he's staying?" Kimberley asked, eyes flitting between Sam and Carson, then grinned at their nods. "Why didn't you say so!"

"You never asked." Sam explained, smiling to herself as Kimberley launched for Carson, arms wrapping themselves around him. She turned away as Kimberley began kissing Carson, who returned the kiss.

Dara made her way over and passed a few sheaves of paper to Sam. "This is the most research I could find that the writers did on the episode. We've caught it quick enough that it won't affect them too much, just remember to strap them down."

"Kinky eh?" Brent turned to Mack and added.

Mack rolled his eyes. "Dare you to say that louder, and near Miss Baldwin or Colonel Sheppard."

"Do I look like I have a death wish?" Brent looked at Mack like he was a few chevrons short of a dialling sequence.

Sam heard the two men talking and tried to hold back her grin. She nodded to Dara. "I'm sure this information will be a great help but ah, lets leave them to it just now."

Dara glanced at the corner of her eye to her friend as she hugged her recently dethawed fancy man. "Good idea."

As they walked past the two dorks guarding the door Dara paused to turn to Brent, who stood straighter. Dara continued walking without saying a word.

Brent let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh Cole." Dara called back and he peeked his head out the door to nod to her. "I'll get you for that comment."

Carson heard Mack chuckle and Brent groan, but ignored them in exchange for listening to Kimberley tell him about what she had been up to recently, glad to be awake and warm.


	28. Its CHRISTMASwait, what?

Carson yawned as he woke up, rubbing his eyes with one hand as the other reached for his girlfriend. Carson frowned as he noted the bedside was cold. "Kimberley?"

Looking around the room he blinked at the sudden sunlight.

"Good morning Carson!" Kimberley sang, holding the blinds open with one hand, not bothering to press the open blinds button.

"Good morning hen, what are you doing up at - 5 am!"

Kimberley dropped the blinds and ran over to the bed, bouncing on it and hugging Carson.

"Whoa! Whats got you so happy." He asked, holding her tihgtly.

"Its snowing!" She giggled into his ear.

"Snowing?"

"Uhhu."

"On Atlantis?"

"I think."

"You think?" His eye brows rose higher and higher with each statement.

Kimberley sighed good naturadly and grabbed his arm. "C'mon Carson, I'll show you."

Carson allowed himself to be pulled from his warm and cozy bed to the large bay window.

"See that orange looking sky over there?" She pointed to the main land.

Carson nodded.

"And notice the low, low temperatures?" She continued.

"Yes..." Carson nodded once more.

"Its snowing on the main land!" Kimberley shouted, clapping her hands together in glee.

Slowly Carson nodded. "Coming back to bed now?"

"But the snow!" Kimberley pointed out, one hand on the glass window.

"I'll make it up to you." Carson spoke softly, placing his hand on her neck and kissed her ear.

"Hehehehe, okay." Kimberley agreed.  
o0o  
The sounds of his door bell coming woke John Sheppard from his sleep. Grumbling he moved the covers off and crossed the room, opening the door and glaring at Kimberley, who smiled innocently outside his door.

"Good morning John." She smiled, nodding to the head of military.

"Boyce, what can I do for you at-" John glanced at his watch. "6 am?"

Kimberley grinned even more. "Oh, need your help playing a prank."

"Do I want to hear this?" He asked, then leaned closer to her. "who on?"

"McKay." She shuffled her feet

"What do you have planned? " John was a little more awake.

"I've got a snow ball with his name on it." She brought one of her hands forward, a large, slightly melted snow ball with a sticker of 'Doctor Rodney McKays, DO NOT TOUCH/return if found.' on it.

"Well we have to return it, don't we." John grinned more awake now than ever.

"Slight problem." Kimberley fake grimaced.

"What?" John asked slowly, grin fading to a frown.

"I've got another one with your name on it." She grinned like the cat that got the cream, throwing a second snow ball and not even waiting to see if it landed before running for safety.

"BOYCE!"

Kimberley giggled as she ran into a transporter. 'Guess it hit the spot.'  
o0o  
"Good morning Chucky." Kimberley began as she opened the channel between her ear piece and the command center.

"Good morning Kimberley, many plans for today?" He asked.

"Just a few." Kimberley smiled. "Any chance you can open Doctor McKays bedroom for me?"

"Is there something I need to tell Doctor Beckett?" Chuck raised an eye brow.

"Just open the damned door please." Kimberley ordered.

"Fine, but you owe me one." Chuck declaired.

"Oh, add it to my tab." Kimberley replied.

"Done and done." Chuck replied and Rodneys door slowly slid open.

'Please don't be with Keller, please don't be with Keller.' Kimberley pleaded as she silently crept into the darkened room.

Looking around the room she frowned as she could not see Rodney. He wasn't on his bed, at his desk, in the bathroom...Kimberley stood behind his couch and looked confused. 'Where the hell is he?'

A snore from below alerted her to one sleeping Rodney McKay, aisle couch.

"Oh Mer!" She sangwhispered, raising the driping snowball into the air.

A cold drip of wetness hit Rodneys face and he scruched up his nose, his eyes trying to remaing closed but his brain was screaming. As it heard the familiar voice of someone his eyes snapped open in time to be hit with frozen water. "Ah, what the- BOYCE!"

Kimberley giggled as she high tailed it outta there.  
o0o  
A still soaking Rodney glared at Kimberley. "So you thought it would be fun to go to the main land, grab some snow and high tail it back here to start an intergallactic snowball fight?"

Kimberley blinked from her position behind Ronon. "Well, when you put it like that."

"You stole my puddle jumper! Again!" Dara demanded and joined the list of part on the 'sever the brain waves' cue.

"No!" Kimberley denied the charge. "I didn't steal it this time! I snuck into the freezer to make some snowballs, thats all!"

Scott paused as he pasted, blinking at he words. "So YOU were the one that left the freezer open!"

"Uh, uh...hey whats that?" Kimberley pointed to the left and, with everyone still watching her, ran to the right.  
o0o  
The light switch turned on and Radek blinked at the sight of Kimberley hiding under his desk, a chess game between her legs. "Uh, hello?"

"Gah!" Kimberly exclaimed, limbs flying everywhere, head bumping the table, chess pieces scattering. "Crap, sorry!"

"Its alright." Radek nodded, bending down to help her pick up the pieces. "Did you really create snow to prank Rodney?"

"What? No!" Kimberley denied stongly straight off the bat, then got a look in her eyes before shaking her head. "Do you guys honestly believe I could do something like that?"

"Well no but, with you females anything is possible." Radek explained, offering her a hand to aid her to a chair.

"Females in gernal or just me and Dara?" Kimberley raised her eyebrows.

"Both." Radek replied instantly.  
o0o  
"Dara can I ask you something." John asked his girlfriend as they paused in the lunchline.

"Depends on what it is?" Dara asked.

Scotts ears picked up the converstaion. 'Is he? Right here, in my commisionary!'

John opened his mouth and frowned. Holding a hand up to Dara he pressed his ear piece. "This is Sheppard. How much? Have you began evacuating the Athosians yet? Do they know what snow is?"

Dara rolled her eyes at him. "They aren't complete idiots!"

John waved his hand at her. Dara rolled her eyes and turned on her heels, walking away from the stupid male. 'Men!'

John finished his conversation and turned to look at the spot where his girl friend was supposed to be. "Dara? Crap."  
o0o  
"Little sparing accident." Ronon spoke clearly as he brought in a slightly dazed Evan Lorne.

"Hey Ro! Kimbrley smilled, then dropped the smile. "Non."

Ronon nodded. "Hey Kimberley."

"What were you sparing?" She asked, smile returning as Carson returned.

"Almost ready for lunch- oh, hullo Ronon, Evan." Carson nodded to the men, then groaned. "Kin you no keep oot a trouble!"

"Ack leave em alone Car." Kimberley defended. "It looks like a concussion, a mild one at the strongest."

Ronon and Carson turned to look at Kimberley, who blinked. "What?"

"How did you know that?" Carson asked, sitting Evan down and began checking him over.

"You hag aroung with team one enough, you start to notice their most comon injuries." She shrugged. "Was I right?"

Carson nodded.

"Oh, can I get a prize?" She had this look on her face, clasping her hands on Carsons bicep.

"Whats your idea?" He asked, enjoying her child like grin. "And wopse going to get hurt?"

"Hopefully McKay." Ronon muttered as the scientist entered the infirmary.

"Huh? What?" Rodney began to back away. "Who wants to hurt me?"

"Kimberley by the looks of things." Even pointed out and pointed a finger in her general direction.  
o0o  
"Hey Dara, any chance you could take me to the main land?" Kimberley asked Dara, who stopped writing to look at her friend.

"You do realize it's snowing over there, right?" Dara had to ask, but once she noticed Kimberley's grin sighed. "Seriously?"

"Please!" Kimberley begged, clasping her hands in front of her and grinning insanely.

Dara sighed again. "Fine. But don't be getting snow on my jumper. It took me ages to get the muck off of it."

"I thought John and the guys cleaned it?" Kimberley looked confused again.

"They cleaned the majority of it, but do you think I will accept John Sheppard's level of cleanliness for my puddle jumper?" Dara stressed the last few words.

"Good point." Kimberley agreed. "So...when can we go?"

"Later okay!" Dara replied, waving her friend away.  
o0o  
Dara entered the puddle jumper bay, frowning at the sight of John, Ronon, Rodney, Jennifer, Carson and Teyla standing beside her puddle jumper. "Someone have a party and forget to invite me?"

"Nope, you're the designated driver." John quipped, standing straighter, his black fleece moving across his body, hiding the stuffed monkey plushie that he had knocked down from the mirror and couldnt igure how to reattatch behind his hands.

"Why do you guys look like you're ready for a snow ball war?" Dara questioned.

"Ask Kimberley." He replied with a smirk.

Dara turned around to do so, but was bumped into by someone.

"Sorry!" The person replied and it took Dara a second to realize that it was Kimberley.

Instead of wearing her black outfit, complete with black jacket and black moccasins, she had on a pair of brown Ugg boots and a bright blue fleece, with a white scarf around her neck, multi colored gloves around her fingers and a light blue hat with a penguin on the tip.

Dara blinked at the color, before realizing she was supposed to be angry. "What are they doing here?"

"They're coming with us." Kimberley smiled.

"You mean you." Dara rephrased.

"You mean you don't want to come with us?" Kimberley asked and pulled a familiar set of items from her back.

"My hat!" Dara nearly shouted. "You went into my room!"

"The door was open!" Kimberley replied.

"Wait a minute; you never explained why they were all here. If you knew John was going to be here then you could have just got him to take you all." Dara paused. "What are you planning?"

"Me? I can't plan diddly squat." Kimberley tried to look innocent.

'She is pulling it off quite well.' Dara thought, then shook her head. "Yes, you missy, you plan more things than any manager I've ever had."

Kimberley sighed and blushed at being caught. "I know you don't like snow much-"

"At all!" John added unhelpfully.

"No help from the peanut gallery!" Kimberley shouted over to him. "But I figured if you were with us you could feel more included."

Dara looked at the group, then her friend. Then nodded. "But if I get hit with even ONE flake, you're dead."

Kimberley smiled and nodded her head, grabbing her friends hand before dragging her to the jumper, letting go of it to grab Carsons.

The Scottish medic smiled to his girlfriend and bent down, kissing her on the cheek and pulled him in for a hug.

Dara felt her glare turn into a smile and shook her head. Her eyes went to Sheppard. "Don't even try it."

"Wasn't even dreaming of it." John replied.  
o0o  
Carson smiled as kimberley picked up another snow ball and theww it at rodney, quickly pointing to Ronon in shock horror and outrage.

John laughed vicariously as Ronon and rodney began to felt kimberley with snow balls, doubling over with tears in his eyes as she tried to get away but fell in to a snow bank.

Dara watched them all from within the safety (and warmth) of her puddle jumper and shook her head. 'they act like such kids instead of the first line I intergalactic defence.'

Dara continued to watch as carson made his way over to kimberley, the boys pausing in their war as the medical checked the unusually red girl.

Everyone burst into laughter as kimberley grabbed carsons hand and pulled him down, sweeping snow onto him before leggings it away.

Sensing some fun about to go over board Dara left the puddle jumper and walked towards them, smiling as she passed Kannan, Teyla and Torren, who nodded as she passed them.

"Whose winning?" She asked John, coming to a stop beside him.

"Kimberley." He replied with a nod to the laughing hyena.

"She is head to toe in snow, completely freezing and her fingers look like they are about to fall off." Dara looked at him like he needed some sanity. "what part of _that _means she is winning?"

John shrugged. "She got you, me and Carson out in the snow."

"I get why I don't like the snow, but you guys?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

John turned to look at her, completely ignoring Kimberley, Ronon and Carson who had teamed up to fight Rodney, who went from slightly white to blending in with the back ground. "Carson was stuck in a ice machine for a month."

"Oh, yeah." Dara nodded, then looked him up and down. "What about you?"

John grinned. "McMordoch."

"I see that look!" Dara pointed at him with her left hand.

"what look?" John was confused.

"The one you get when you get hit by a snowball." She replied and threw a fast one with her right hand, running in the direction of her friends as his brain processed what had happened.

o0o  
Dara smiled as Ronon pelted Kimberley with snowballs, laughing out loud as she ran forward towards the confused Sedetan and dragged him to the ground, sweeping her arms around the ground to pile snow on him.

"Drink?" Carson asked, holding a flask cup towards Dara.

Dara raised an eyebrow and sniffed it experimentally. "What is it?"

"Hot ribbenna." Carson smiled. "Try it; it's one of the best drinks to have when out in the cold."

With a shrug Dara took a tentative sip, frowning at the strange taste before feeling it warm up her body, and began to drink it more quickly, emptying the cup before returning it to Carson. "Thanks."

"Yer welcome." Carson smiled. "Having fun?"

"Surprisingly yes." Dara admitted, but leaned over to him. "Don't tell Kimberley though."

Carsons eyes twinkled and he nodded. "We're just about to build snow people, do you want to join in?"

Pursing her lips Dara thought about it, and then nodded.  
o0o  
Kimberley blew out a breath and moved to take her scarf off, frowning as a Johns hand clasped over hers.

"Keep it on, or you'll get ill." He warned.

"Kay." Kimberley nodded, sniffling slightly. "What do you think of our family?"

"Our family?" John did a double take.

"I like the cat the best." Dara pointed out.

"That's a cat?" Carson asked, nose twitching.

"Better than my dog." Kimberley smiled and slugged Daras shoulder. "Ya know, if saving two galaxy's and writing doesn't pan out, you could always go into ice sculpting."

"You guys do realise that its the middle of April and we're playing in the snow." Dara pointed out.

"Doesn't mean that this planet has to play with Earths ecosystem." Kimberley pointed out in return.

Everyone staired at Kimberley. 'Who gave her a brain?'

"I think the snow woman's missing something." John commented, standing close to Dara.

"If you say bigger balls…" Dara trailed off, glaring slightly at him.

"Naa." John grinned. "But it looks like they need something…maybe an article of clothing."

"Don't touch my hat!" Dara yelled, slamming her hands over her bunny ears and Johns hand hovered about her head.

"Sorry!" He replied and moved his hands away, using them to protect his body as she threw her own at him.

"Just get in the jumper!" Dara snapped at him, grinning on the inside as he almost fell over a bank of snow, laughing out loud as a snowball whacked him on the face, John twirling round to glare at Kimberley who held her hands to her face in shock horror.

Dara frowned as she realised the look of horror wasn't directed at hitting John, but at her. Quickly she whirrled around, shrieking at the basket ball sized snowball hurtling towards her, Ronon grinning behind it.  
o0o  
As Dara came to in the infirmary, she felt the restraints on her wrists and legs. 'What the?'

"Hey Dara." Kimberley sat on the edge, face split into a large grin. "How are you?"

"Alright, apart from, well, can you guess?" Dara motioned with her head to her restrained ligaments.

"Ohh, yeah." Kimberley nodded her head. "That was so you didn't try and kill me."

Dara frowned. "Why would I try and kill you?"

Kimberley cleared her throat and spoke quickly, try (badly) to imitate Daras voice. "If I get hit with even ONE flake, you're dead."

Dara staired at her. "that was bad. Even for you."

Kimberley continued to grin.

"Did something happen when I was out?" She asked, then snapped her head to the side. "Where's Ronon, I've got a fist with his name on it!"

"He's hidding-er I mean, trainning off world." Kimberley replied.

Dara and Kimberley shared a grin at the thought of the big bad runner running scared fomr little ole Dara B fomr Michigan.

"Could be worse." Kimberley pointed out.

"I got decked by a snow ball, how could it possibly be any worse?" Dara was curious. 'Her mucked up mind does often think of soem weird crap.'

"You could have snow balled down a hill and ended up with John caring for you in the infirmary with a broken limb or five." Kimberley pointed out.

"True." Dara nodded as she shivvered.  
o0o  
Dara sat with John and thought about the way he reacted to something Kimberley had said the other day. With a smirk she reached over to him and kissed his cheek. "So...what do you think about starting our own family?"

John chocked on his own spit. "Wha-what?"

"Your face!" Dara laughed, bending over in complete hysterics, before the back of her throat tickled and she coughed, her laughter becoming sorer.

"You okay?" John sat up and moved closer to her, patting her lightly on the back.

"Yeah, fine, just a little, erm, little cough." Dara paused to get her breathe back. "Now, where were we?"

John smirked. "I think I can remind you."


	29. Sharing the Love

"Baldwin!" John said a little louder as he pounded on her door. "Open the door, or I'll get Rodney to do it." He stopped pounding and held his breath for a second or two. Carefully he listens, then hears a faint shuffling sound. The door swishes open. "About time!" he exclaimed, then looked at her.

There she stood. She was slightly hunched over, had a blanket around her shoulders, and was shivering. Her nose was also red and her eyes were a little droopy. "What do you want, Sheppard?"

He could tell she put way too much effort into that sentence. Not to mention the fact, when she talked, it sounded like it was going through a stuffed nose. "Are you okay?" he questioned, now more concerned for her.

"Just fine. It's a little cold." She turns around and starts to head towards her bed. Half way there, she begins to tilt a little.

John ran over to her side, just barely to steady her. It was then he noticed she was warm to the touch. Not the normal warmth he felt when he touched her, but an actual heat. "You're burning up!"

Turning her around, she just looks at him. "I'm fine," was all she said, as she continued to shiver.

Carefully he puts his hand on her forehead, to make sure. Sure enough, she was burning up. It was then he noticed that she had to be really sick, because she didn't shy away from his hand. "Alright, that's it! I'm taking you to see Dr. Keller."

"What? No." She tried to turn away and head back towards her bed. John doesn't even give her a chance.

Scooping her up, blanket and all, he turns and walks right out of her room. He could feel her shivering, even over her trying to struggle. That added another fact, that she was really sick. If she actually struggled hard enough, she could get free. This time, though, her struggle barely had any energy to it.

* * *

John paced back and forth, until he seen Dr. Keller headed over his way. "Well, Doc? What's wrong with her?"

Jennifer stops and smiles at him. "Nothing major is wrong with her. She just has the flu."

"Is it some Alien Flu? Are we all infected?"

"No, no," Jennifer says as she shakes her head. "She just has an ordinary flu, from earth. It shouldn't be to dangerous for her. There is, also no reason to keep her here. I'll release her, but I want her to get plenty of rest and fluids."

"I'll see to that," John replies.

"No need too," Jennifer says. "She does know the drill."

"Yeah, but if someone's there to take care of you, you get better, faster."

"Well, if you want to see her now, you can."

"Thanks, Doc." John quickly makes his way over to Dara's bedside. "How are you feeling?" he asked, when he made it there.

"Okay, I guess," Dara replied, as she tried to get out of bed.

"Here. Don't strain yourself." Without any warning, he picks her up again.

"I told you, I'm fine," she manages to huff out.

As John walked down the hallway, he kind of smirks. "You also told me it was a cold. Dr. Keller said you have a flu."

"Tomate-Oh, Tom-Matto."

"There is a difference, you know." He could feel her shiver some more. "A flu has a higher chance to kill you. You should take more care of yourself." He gets quiet, hoping to hear one of her smart alec remarks. Realising she wasn't answering, he looks down to notice that she had fallen asleep. "See. Not fine," he says with a smile. Quickly he makes his way back to Dara's room. When he got there, he quickly enters, and carefully puts her down on her bed. Grabbing a couple of blankets, he carefully covers up her shivering form. "See you in the morning."

* * *

John rings the chimes on Dara's door, for a fifth time that morning. Starting to get a little impatiant and worried, he gets the door to open up and steps into her room. He does a quick look around the room, noticing that she wasn't there. John goes over towards the bathroom door and lightly taps on it. "Dara, are you in there?"

"Go away," he barely hears her say.

"Can I come in?"

"No."

She still sounded pretty sick, to him. Not sure on how much of his life or limbs he wanted to risk, he goes over the list of females in his head. One only, he could think of, could go in there and not get chewed out for it. Not liking the fact, but having no other choice, he presses his ear piece. "Kimberley Boyce. Meet me outside Dara's room."

John steps outside of Dara's room, but leaves the door open. As he waited for Kimberley to show up, he made sure to keep an ear open for Dara.

About seven minutes later, Kimberley comes running up. Through the really hard breathes, she manages to ask, "Is Dara okay? I heard she was sick, but was only a cold. Right?"

"Flu, actually," he responds. As he turned and walked into Dara's room, he began to wonder. Most of his thoughts were how could Dara be friends with someone like her. He also wondered if he tolerated her, only because Dara was friends with her. Stopping outside the bathroom, he points towards it. "She's in there and won't come out."

Crossing her arms, she just looks at John. "You want me to do what?"

Sighing, John couldn't believe how much that reminded him of Dara. They had been hanging out too much, to the point they were picking up each other's mannerisms. "Go in there and make sure she's alright. Better yet! Get her to come out."

Kimberley puts her arms down and shrugs her shoulders. "Okay. I'll see what I can do." Kimberley over to the door and lightly knocks on it. "Dara. It's me, Kimberley. Can I come in?"

After a few seconds, Dara quietly answers, "No."

Kimberley looks at John, then back at the door. John could tell that she realised on how sick she really was. Knocking again, Kimberley says, "Dara, I'm coming in, whether you like it or not."

John turned around, just as Kimberley swiped her hand over the crystals. "Dara! Are you okay? John!"

Turning back around, John sees Dara curled up on the floor, covered with a blanket, her pajama's on, and Kimberley at her side. "Dara, are you okay?" He goes over and carefully kneels at her side.

"Yes." He noticed she wasn't shivering, for once. Carefully, he touches her cheek and notices it wasn't as feverish as before.

"Why are you on the bathroom floor?" he asked.

"Because, it feels good against my aching head," she responds.

Sighing, John picks her up. "It may be good for your head, but not for your flu." Walking over, he puts her down on her bed. He goes around and picks up the blankets she had scattered around. Straightening them up, he covers her up with them. "Get some rest."

Quietly he walks out and closes the door. Kimberley taps him lightly, on the shoulder, to get his attention. "So, what are we going to do?" Kimberley asked.

"We, aren't going to do anything," John responds, as he walked down the hall.

"She's my friend! I want to help her."

"You don't have to. I'll take care of her."

"Okay."

John stops and looks at Kimberley. "Just like that?" He wondered if she even did care.

Kimberley smiled, as if she knew something and wasn't going to tell anyone, at least not him. "Yup. Just like that."

"Okay then."

"Okay then," she says with a smile. She begins to walk away, but stops and looks at John. "If she's tired of water, but isn't ready for most other fluids, her 'sick' drink is Sprite."

"Thank you, for telling me."

"You're welcome!" Kimberley turns back around and continues on her way.

* * *

A few hours later, John returned to Dara's room. Carefully, he puts down a tray with a bowl of chicken noodle soup, on Dara's table.

"You shouldn't be here, John," Dara manages to say.

"Why is that?" he asks as he brings the bowl to her side.

"The flu has knocked me out this long. Anything this strong will knock anyone else for much longer."

"I'll take my chances," John says with a smile. He sits down, next to her bed. Carefully he takes a scoop of soup with the spoon and holds it towards her.

"I'm not hungry," Dara says as she turns her head away.

"You should eat something." John moves the spoon closer towards her.

"Not that."

"Please! For me."

Dara looks at John, then at the spoon. "No."

"If not for me, the to do it to get rid of me."

Dara looks at the spoon. "Fine." She goes to reach for the spoon. John pulls the spoon out of her reach and smiles. "I can feed myself."

"I would prefer to do it. That way I know you ate it."

"Fine."

Slowly, John began to feed her, making sure she got every drop. Half way through the bowl, she slaps her hand over her mouth, gets up in a hurry, and runs to the bathroom.

John manages to put the bowl down, without spilling any, and takes off after her. As she threw up in the toilet bowl, he gathers her hair up and holds it for her, as he rubbed her back.

* * *

"Are you sure, that she has an Earth flu?"

"I'm positive, Col. Sheppard," Dr. Keller responds.

"I'm just saying." John continued to follow Jennifer around the infirmary. "She threw up Chicken Noodle soup."

"She is sick, John."

"We're talking about a girl that will put away food that Ronon won't even go near."

"Yes, and that's when she's perfectly healthy."

"Chicken. Noodle. Soup."

Jennifer stops, turns, and looks at John. "John trust me. She's sick, so sooner or later she'll get over it. Just keep trying."

"Alright, Doc. I'll trust you. For now."

* * *

John figured he could try again. When he walked into the room, he noticed that Dara was sound a sleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he quietly puts the tray down. On it, it had more chicken noodle soup, a glass of water, and a bag of saltine crackers. He wanted to stay and watch over her, but he also had to do some reports to do. Figuring that Col. Carter wouldn't let him get away with not doing the reports, so he decides he should do them and check on her in a few hours. He looks at the food, then decides to leave it for her. Mostly if she gets up and was hungry, it would be there.

He leaves her room and makes his way towards his office. Half way there, Rodney joins up with him, walking right next to him. "How is she feeling?"

"Who?" John asks.

"Who? Dara! That's who."

"How did you know that she was sick?"

"Please! It's all over Atlantis." Rodney looks at John, not believing that he didn't know. "Not to mention, Jennifer told me."

"Well, she's still sick. Hasn't really eaten anything. Just drinks water. Whatever she does eat, it comes back up."

"Wow. She must be sick if she's not eatting anything."

"You're telling me."

"Hey! Do you want to come to the mess hall with me and get something to eat?" Rodney asked.

"Nah. I think I'll pass. I have to work on a few reports. Maybe later."

Rodney shrugs as he continues on. "Your loss."

* * *

It was later than John wanted it to be, when he managed to head back to Dara's room. When he entered her room, it almost looked like nothing changed. He goes over to the side of her bed and notices that she was asleep. Carefully, he puts his hand on her cheek, mostly to check her temperature. A small smile appears on her face and she cuddles a little closer towards it. Noticing her temperature was down a little, he removes his hand. Smiling, he turns towards the tray, to take care of the cold items. That was when he noticed that the glass of water was gone, as well as the crackers.

Quickly and quietly he goes into the bathroom. He glances into the trash, to see if there was any extra tissues in there. "I can't believe it?"

Dara coughs, getting John's attention. Turning, he sees she was still a sleep, just turning over. Smiling, he goes over to her side and watches her for a few minutes. "Okay. More crackers for you then."

* * *

"Sheppard! Open this door!" Dara screams at the door. She gives it a few good kicks, trying to get her point across. Sighing, she gives up on him on helping her out. Carefully, she sets the tray down, swipes her hand over the door crystals, and picks the tray back up. As she made her way across John's room, towards his bed, she says, "I told you! It knocked me out that long, it'll be longer for you."

John laid in his bed, just trying to breath through his nose. Rolling his eyes, at her statement, he begins to have a coughing fit.

Carefully, she sets the tray down next to him. "There you go. There's your soup."

John makes a hand motion of eating, then points to Dara.

"I'm not feeding you, John. You're a big boy."

He tries to give her a sad puppy dog face.

Dara just laughs at him, then says, "You should know, faces like that, don't work on me."

Sighing, he points to himself, then at Dara.

"Yes, I know you fed me. I also remember not wanting to be fed, as well as puking most of the stuff up." With out letting him get a response in, she pulls out her ear piece from her pocket. She puts it on and turns to head out the room. As she was heading out, John could hear her say, "So much more fun, since you lost your voice!"

John huffs, crosses his arms, and slides down farther, just before starting another coughing fit.


	30. Stuck With You

Colonel John Sheppard rolled his eyes as he waited for Kimberley and Dara to finish their gun pass back. He watched as Dara thrust the gun to Kimberley, who would palm it back to her and step back, closer to the active gate to P957-483, who would then thrust it back towards her.

John grinned as Kimberley mistook a step and, flailing her arms for a second, went backwards through the gate.

He continued to watch as Dara sprinted through the gate, not bothering to wait on anyone else. With a sigh John hiked up his backpack he gave a half assed salute to the group in the gate room and stepped forward; Rodney, Ronon and Teyla following suit.  
o0o  
Dara stopped just at the end of the stone structure of the Stargates ramp. Looking around she noticed the thick trees, a building of some sort poking through the trees and the bird that Kimberley was watching walk on her chest as she lay on the forest floor.

Dara moved forward and she could hear the rest of the team walk through the gate, her eyes still stuck on the colourful bird tweeting and singing around Kimberleys stomach.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw someone raise their hand and there was a second where she swore she heard Ronons gun load, before the colourful bird exploded.

"Hey!" Dara and Kimberley yelled at him, the latter trying to stand up and get all the bird entrails off of her.

"That bird would kill you." Ronon explained as he put the gun back into its holster.

"I thought that was just bunnies?" Kimberley asked.

Dara caught John rolling his eyes at the corner of her eye and sighed. 'This is going to be a long mission.'  
o0o  
Ronon helped Kimberley get the most of the entrails off of her top before standing guard as she changed behind a tree.

"Okay!" She smiled and he turned, watching her stuff the shirt into a bag before she put it in her backpack.

"Do you really need to keep that?" Ronon asked.

"I figured one of the scientists back home would want to study the DNA strands and see if the birdies are more like Earths ones just now or like the dinosaurs or something. Plus I kinda need to make up for the whole Michaels kids thing." Kimberley shrugged. "Where are the others?"

He motioned his head. "They went a head."

"Well c'mon then!" She grinned and began walking, smiling as he fell to a slow pace and walked beside her. "What cha planning for when we get back?"

"Probably watching the game." He replied, eyes moving from the trail to look down at her. "Why?"

"Nothing!" Her eyes narrowed at him. "Why?"

They looked at each other before the both began to grin, Ronon still smiling as he returned his attention back to the path.  
o0o  
Teyla eyed the tablet containing carvings as Rodney brought out several pieces of his machinery and began taking readings.

She turned her head as Kimberleys laughter came up the slight hill, frowning internally as John frowned and began making his way towards the entrance of the structure.

"Hey, we're trying to stay undetected here." John hissed at Kimberley, who flushed and stopped smiling, nodding to him and muttering an apology.

'Men.' She rolled her eyes and walked towards the small group, pausing at the last column of words. 'What is it Kimberley says?' "Oh, crap?"

Everyone turned to look at Teyla, except for Dara who hit her friend in the arm. "Stop corrupting the friendly aliens!"

"What's up?" John asked speed walking towards her.

"This writing is a mixture of Ancient warnings and instructions." Teyla explained, pointing to certain parts. "This is the Ancient for 'Destruction' and 'end of all troubles'."

"That's it, that's all you can translate?" Rodney demanded. "I'm getting a huge power reading from several points in the building."

Dara looked to Kimberley and moved closer. "Pick out any other words?"

"Something about 'forty eight hours' or 'weeks'." The younger female shrugged. "Think we'll check it out?"

"If it's at least remotely dangerous, then yeah." Dara nodded.

John either didn't hear them or chose to ignore them. "Maybe we should check it out."

The females all shared a look.

John suddenly smiled. "Okay gang, let's split up."

"Who died and made you Freddy?" Dara demanded.

"I'm just saying, if there are several different energy readings we should split up and look for them." He replied, holding his hands in the hair.

"I hate to admit it but it's a good idea." Dara finally agreed.

"Okay, Dara you're with me, Ronon stick with Boyce, Teyla you're with Rodney." John ordered and motioned for them to move out.

"Two seconds!" Kimberley yelled as she dragged Dara to the side. "Dara, Dara, Dara!"

"What, what, what?" Dara replied, mind flitting back to easier times when they weren't travelling across different realities and planets.

"There is a section that says the device needs 'ancient and human DNA together'." Kimberley bit her lip. "I don't know what it means but knowing Sheppard, he's going to activate it."

"Okay." Dara nodded, and then turned. "Change of plan, I'm going with Rodney. Kimberley, you're going with John."

All three looked crestfallen but the groups got together and went off down one of the three passageways each.

John and Kimberley entered the first of the passageways, with John walking a head of Kimberley, who routed around in her bag before grinning, brought out a stick of pink chalk from the bag, and rushed to Dara. "Here."

Dara looked at the chalk, then to the girl holding it, and walked away.

Rolling her eyes Kimberley turned to Teyla and held out the chalk to them. Ronon took it suspiciously and rolled it over his hands.

Ronon eyed the pink dust covering his hands and nodded to her bag. "You got any food in there as well?"

"Boyce!" John shouted from inside the corridor, and Kimberley quickly thrust her hand into the bag and brought out a bunch of MREs and an orange wrapped packet.

"Are those crisps of toffee?" Teyla enquired, her head peaking around Ronons shoulder.

"BOYCE!"

"I'M COMING!" She turned and yelled at him, her voice echoing around the corridors. "KEEP YOUR KEVLAR ON!"

Quickly her head spun back to them and she smiled to Teyla. "Yup. And if we get out of here okay I've got a bunch stashed for you and Kanaan."

Teyla was torn from thanking the girl or wondering what the personality change was about before she decided to smile strained and nod.

"See yas later!" Kimberley spoke happily and turned, routing through her bag once more for another colour of chalk - green this time - and entered the hall.  
o0o  
Dara paused as she heard Kimberley yelling, and then shook her head.

"Was that Kimberley?" Rodney asked, blinking to get the ringing from his ears.

"Yeah." Dara nodded and pushed on.

"Shouldn't we go back and check it out?" Rodney pointed behind him. "They might be killing each other!"

"I wish." Dara grumbled to herself. "Just leave them be Rodney."

"But-"

"You want to look at this energy signal or not?" She began walking away from him faster, grinning as she heard him rush to catch up.  
o0o  
John eyed Kimberley as she placed another arrow on the wall, and narrowed his eyes as she traced the words, faintly writing letters under the ancient textprefixing writing letters. "What are you doing?"

"Who? What?" Kimberley looked confused, quickly rubbing her hand across the wall to get rid of her translations. "Huh?"

'They have got to stop hanging around with one another. Wait...' He thought and stepped towards her. "I'm going to ask this once and only once; can you translate Ancient?"

Kimberley bit her lip and looked at the writings before shrugging.

His right eye twitched.

"Don't you think if you told us we could actually have a use for you?" He yelled.

Her face lost all colour, her reply came breathlessly. "What?"

"Instead of just having you back up what ever Dara says?" John continued. "You could have been more than just a waste of space."

"What the hell is your problem?" Kimberley demanded, putting her hands on her hips, uncaring of the green sheen she was getting on her black trousers.

Johns eye twitched again.

"No, seriously, ever since I got here all I've been getting is bucket after bucket of crap from you and I'm sick of it!" She raised her voice and threw her hands into the air. "I don't know what the hell I've done wrong-don't interrupt."

John continued to glare but closed his mouth.

"But how the hell am ah supposed tae fix it ef nay wan tells me wits rang?" Her voice continued to rise and dust began to fall.

"I'll tell you wits rang." John snapped.

"Don't make fun of my accent." She replied and stepped forward, finger extended towards him.

"Why should I do anything for you, you never do anything for us!" John looked like she had just slapped Carter and compared Atlantis to an Etch-Sketch.

"What do you mean never do anything for you? I gave up my life, my home, who I am to come here."

"But it was your fault in the first place."

"Right, mister 'lets kill the keeper and set the Wraith on two galaxies'!"

"Hey you have no right-"

"And neither do you!" Her voice hit a high octave and a piece of rock fell onto her shoulder, she brushed it off without looking.

"But you sold everyone out to Michael-MICHAEL!"

She smiled condescend at him. "And sorry to say, I kinda get where Michael was coming from."

John stopped and stared at her.

'Oops, didn't mean it like that!' She thought as he looked at her wearily. "You experimented on him, tore him from his Hive and then set him loose unchecked-"

"He ESCAPED, and need I remind you that he is a WRAITH?" John was beginning to lose his patience.

"Hey, need I remind you that he was and is still a living being that your guys got too in over your heads with." The words kept falling, faster than her brain could process them. "I hate to say it, but it was one of Doctor Weirs biggest mistakes."

"What did you just say?" He whispered, eyes boring into her.

"Doctor Weir is a smart lady, but some times her choices aren't the right ones, and this case she couldn't get any more wrong." Kimberley defended her argument.

Something flashed in Johns face, causing his eyes to darken. His hand was up before he even registered his muscles moving.

Kimberley turned from him, holding her cheek. Slowly she turned to look at him and stared. Then the tears began to form. Without saying anything, she pushed past him at a fast pace, leaving a stunned John in his wake.  
o0o  
Twenty minutes later John was starting to think Kimberley had double backed on him. 'And is trying to get me lost.'

On each wall, there were four directions. If he followed the heaviest, it took him to a dead end, if he took the lightest it took him around in circles.

Eventually he stumbled across a room with pools of a strange black substance, which shimmered slightly as the natural sunlight from the glassless windows high in the buildings structure reflected up them.

John spotted Kelly at the other side of the room, wearing a pair of gloves and putting some of the goo into a few vials, and wondered if he should apologise.

Kimberley turned and spotted the Earthman and for a second John wondered if she realized he was standing there. Quickly he noticed that her blank face was forced, as though she was trying not to glare at him.

Turning away from him, she snapped off her gloves and bent down over the goo, causing him to feel curious about the larger pool that was near him.

From opposite ends of the room John and Kimberley reached for the strange black substance, both forgetting the basic survival techniques taught to them both on the job and drilled in by Ronon.  
o0o  
Outside the room, Teyla turned at the sound of a boom and the flash of a bright light. Quickly she caught Ronons attention and began moving towards where their leader and newest comrade could be.

They entered the room with weapons drawn and stopped and stared in amazement as Kimberley and Johns unconscious bodies began to float towards each other, Kimberleys left arm outstretched towards Johns right one.

Ronon grumbled to himself as he handed over the last bar of Toffee Crisp to Teyla, who smiled to him, before he grabbed Kimberley, allowing Teyla to grab John and they began dragging them back through the maze of corridors. Looking slightly higher they found Kimberleys real directions, and exited the building, passing the unconscious duo to the infirmary staff who were waiting with adapted stretchers.

Teyla nodded to Carson. "How did you know to come?"

Carson sighed. "Both girls were off world."  
o0o  
John could feel something constricting on his wrist and for a fleeting moment wondered if he had broken his wrist again.

Flexing his fingers he figured that wasn't the case, so he opened his eyes and stared at he infirmary walls.

Quietly he sat up, frowning at the tug on his arm. 'Must be a - Boyce!'

John glared down at the female sleeping on the bed pushed up next to him, then baulked at the large blue rough cast that covered their wrists and connected them together. Frantically he began stretching at it, moving to grab the knife from his boot and saw his arm free.

"OW!" John looked up as he heard Rodney shout in pain, dropping the knife as he spotted his secret girlfriend stuck in the same position with Rodney.

"What the hell is going on here?" He demanded.

Kimberley moved about on the bed, still sleeping.

"Mister 'I have the ATA gene' here decided to touch a computer that all out screamed 'I do something stupid'." Dara shouted and used her hand to cause Rodney to hit himself on the head. "Stupid smart man!"

"I repeat, what the hell happened? How am I glued to Boyce?" John raised his voice.

"Oh, you're awake." Dara replied, looking at him but hitting Rodney one more time.

"No, I'm still sleeping." John snarked.

"Wrong thing to say in the infirmary." Dara grinned at him, glancing at Rodney then hit him again.

"Will you stop that?" He demanded.

"Hmm." Dara thought about it.

Then hit him again.

"Will you guys wrap it?" Kimberley groaned and pulled the pillow to cover her head, then pulled the pillow above her and looked at it. "How are we at the infirmary?"

"You guys were knocked unconscious." Ronon explained as he made himself known. "How are you feeling?"

Kimberley shrugged, and then looked at her hand. "Holy Cain, I'm stuck to Sheppard!"

"That won't work." John explained as she tried to claw, then saw, and then chew their bond off.

John did a double take at her glare.

Kimberley looked at Carson who chose that moment to join them. "Hey, how strong are the drugs in here?"

"Pretty strong, why?" Carson asked.

She didn't reply but looked down at her arm. "Are you guys any good at surgically removing and reaffixing certain limbs?"

Carson glared at Kimberley. "Am no cutting yer aerm aff!"

"Why not?" She whinned.

"Because the chances of it being a success are very limited." Carson chided her. "And you wouldn't be able to write for months afterwards."

"What about typing?" She asked, half kidding, mostly serious.

Carson glared at her. "No nothing."

"So we're stuck like this?" She questioned, looking from her arm to her boyfriend.

"Aye, until you finish translating that text that is." He replied and his face changed to smile at her. "Why didn't you tell us you could read Ancient?"

John watched as she shrugged.

"Now, now hen, stop being quiet." Carson placed a hand on her shoulder. Then frowned as he spotted something. "What's this mark on your face?"

Kimberleys face flushed and her right hand flew to her face, trying to hide the mark. Quietly she whispered "it's nothing."

Ronon stepped forward and removed her hand, allowing Carson to take her face in his hands an examine it.

Carson frown intensified. "It looks like a hawn smack."

Kimberley shrugged, trying not to look at anyone. Unconsciously, her eyes slid towards John to see if he was having any reaction. "I must have hurt it when I fell."

"What, into a fist?" Carson scoffed. "Kimberley-"

"Just leave it Carson." Kimberley replied and moved to storm off, but was jerked back to the bed by the weight of John Sheppard. Her head moved to glare at him.

"Now, now Kimberley, there's no need for that." Carson shook his head at her. "Leave the death glares for the Wraith my dear."

Kimberley slid the glare to Carson, before closing her eyes and breathing deep, her face neutralizing out. She opened her eyes and smiled brightly at Carson.

Ronon walked away from the group, stealthily making his way to where Dara and Rodney were still bickering to themselves.

Dara stopped once she realized the Sedetan was standing in front of her, and did not look happy. "What's up Ronon?"

"You seen Kimberleys face?" He shook his head towards the should be blonde.

Dara frowned. "No, why? What's wrong?"

"I think Sheppard lost his temper." Ronon replied quietly.

Daras eyes glared toward the Earthman. Her body screamed anger and Ronon backed away.

Rodney was watching the interaction with interest. "Why are you telling her?"

Ronon cut his eyes to Rodneys. "She keeps him in check."

"Wait, did he hit Boyce?" Rodney was unsure. "If he did, there must have been a good reason."

Dara turned to look at Rodney. "There is never a good reason to hit her."

"I'm just saying she can be annoying as any Wraith we've came across." He replied, not knowing the deep waters he was jumping into.

"So you're saying it's okay for him to smack her around, because she's annoying?" Dara demanded, struggling to keep her voice quiet.

"No, not smack her around, but it can be understood why he lost his temper." Rodney replied. "It's not like he left a mark or anything."

"Did he?" Dara turned her attention to the alien.

"Go see for yourself." He replied.

"Hey slow down!" Rodney yelled as Dara pulled him along towards John and Kimberley.

Dara stopped beside her friend and examined her face, glaring at John as he looked over uninterestingly at them. "How do you like it!"

"How do I like what-" He almost finished before Daras hand, which was still connected to Rodney's, came crashing across his face, spinning his head away in impact. "Ow, what did you do that for?"

"Seriously?" Dara yelled at him, and then stormed away.

"What is with your friend?" John asked Kimberley, watching the female scare the bejezus out of everyone that past her.

Kimberley continued chatting with Carson, ignoring the Scottish man who pointed out John was talking.

Carter entered the infirmary with Evan Lorne and Brent Cole at her heels. "Hey John, Rodney, Dara, Kimberley; how are you holding up?"

Silence met her.

"What's that?" Carson asked, motioning with his hand to the file in her hands.

"I sent a team through to take pictures, and since Kimberley has recently revealed that she can read and translate Ancient, I figured she should have the first look." Carter smiled to the younger female. "You should have told us before."

"I know, I'm sorry." Kimberley replied quietly and accepted the file. "I didn't think I could do any better than anyone else."

Carter frowned. "Is that a slap mark?"

Kimberley blushed and said nothing.

Dara rolled her eyes and wondered why her friend was staying quiet.

Carter looked from Kimberley to Carson, who glared towards John. 'Ho boy.' "I take we should get these things off as soon as possible?"

"That would be a good idea." Dara responded for the group.

"Have you tried the usual methods?" Carter asked.

Rodney and Carson nodded their heads. Rodney was the one to speak. "Nothing can cut through them, or dissolve them."

"We're thinking about calling them Peeps!" Dara added, eyes sliding to look at her friend.

Kimberley giggled.

"That's a stupid name." John replied.

Kimberley jerked her hands to clasp them. "I have an idea - sorry John."

"Why don't you work on the translations, and we'll work on the science?" Dara offered, then glared. "And if anything else happens, one of you will be in a body cast okay."

"Okay." Kimberley nodded.

"Not you!" Dara replied, cutting her eyes to look at John, who gulped and nodded slightly.

John nodded that he understood her threat. "Well I've got some work to do so-"

"Oh no you don't, I'm not sitting all by my self with the crazy one attached to me." Rodney motioned towards Dara.

Everyone looked at him like he was confused.

"I thought I was the crazy one?" Kimberley asked.

"No, you're just the secret keeper one." John replied.

Kimberleys head straightened and she continued to look away from him.

"Secret? What secret?" Carson asked.

"Boyce here." John jutted both their thumbs towards the female, who flinched back. "Can translate Ancient."

"Really?" Rodney looked at Kimberley in a new light.

She nodded. "I can help?"

"How much Ancient do you know?" He asked.

"You might want to double check her translations; she gets them muddled up with the old ancient and the new ancient." Dara pointed out as Rodney began to lead them all to a computer lab. 'I think we should keep the being able to translate Wraith a secret just now too.'

"Wait, you knew about this?" John was shocked. 'She kept something form me, something for Boyce.'

Dara nodded. "It wasn't such a big thing before."

"We always need people who can translate Ancient; this is a very big thing." John was beginning to get angry again. "Unless she can only translate some words?"

Dara shrugged. "Oh no, she can pretty much translate everything, names, experiments, songs..."

"What?" John thought he hadn't heard her right. "Dara, what did you say? Dara? Dara!"  
o0o  
An hour later the quartet had gathered outside the mess hall, Rodney rushing to the food, dragging Dara behind him.

"How goes the translations?" John asked Rodney once he sat down, Dara passing Kimberley a sandwich and bottle of water. "Not get me anything?"

"Oops." Dara replied.

"Not very far, I'm not to sure Boyce actually knows the language." Rodney explained. "She keeps getting the basics wrong."

Kimberley muttered something under her breath but ripped open her sandwich and got tore into it, ignoring Rodney blasting her, and then turned her attention to her notebook.

Dara watched her friend, then leant over and picked up her notebook. 'Device to stop siblings, work partners and those with serious difficulties from fighting, warring marriages.' "How long do you think the translation will take?"

"It's done." Kimberley replied after she finished swallowing her water.

"Please." Rodney rolled his eyes. "You couldn't even get the first word."

Kimberley clenched her hands, her head going to the side lightly. "I finished the translation while you bitched about the fact I got confused between the Wraith and Ancient for 'destroy'."

"So, we're stuck like this for how long?" Dara asked, trying to get them back on track.

"Forty eight hours from awakening after the machine activated. So tomorrow afternoon." Kimberley replied and smiled from her seat. "Just be thankful it's my translations and not Rodneys."

"What was your translation?" John was curious.

Rodney gave him a look. 'He was right there when we did the translation!' "Forty eight weeks."

John turned to Kimberley and smiled. "Knew there was a reason why I liked you."

"Hmm." Kimberley nodded once and kept her eyes on the table.

Baxter entered the mess hall and made his way over to the group. "Colonel Carter has just informed me of the off world incident. You have to report to my office when you have finished eating."

Three of them began to argue.

"It is not a request." He replied and stared down Rodney, Dara and John down. "I will see you in half an hour."  
o0o  
Forty minutes later Melvin tapped his foot as he waited with Dara and Rodney for Kimberley and john.

''I specifically told them thirty minutes. Where are they?'' Baxter commented.

''Knowing Kimberley, they'll be here in two minutes.'' Dara pointed out.

Baxter cuffed and pressed his earpiece. ''Chuck, do you know where Kimberley and Col. Sheppard are?''

Rodney watched him from the corner of his eyes.

''Thank you." Baxter replied and stared straight ahead.

''Eta two minutes?'' Dara asked.

''Oh be quiet.'' he snapped.  
o0o  
The quartet sat inside Heightmyer office, the only one that would not freak anyone out (anyone, being Ronon for no windows, and Rodney for feeling enclosed) and looked anywhere but at the psychologist who was setting up a Dictaphone behind a plotted plant, then moved to empty the contents of a box onto the table and around the room.

'Like we're not going to see that.' Rodney thought to himself, and found himself admiring the Russian Dolls lined up beside the plants.

"So, shall we begin?" Baxter asked, crossing to the door and closing it before locking it. "The door with reopen in one hour."

"I have experiments! Things to do! People to run!" Rodney stood up, and then plopped back down as Dara tugged her arm. "Atlantis doesn't run itself you know."

Baxter waited for Rodney to calm down. "Tell me, Doctor McKay, how long have you had female issues?"

"What? Why would I have female issues? I am clearly male." Rodney replied and looked at Baxter like he was a few screws loose himself. "Just because I have a females name doesn't mean anything-"

"But your word choice, the select friends you have around you." Baxter interrupted. "The fact that you keep eyeing up my first edition Romanoff Russian Dolls means you are either a collector, or have deep female issues which have affected you growing up and you still have not addressed them."

"You got that from looking at dolls?" John asked, unsure where to look.

"Sometimes it is useful, but most times I do not need any aids to help show where a persons problems really lie." Baxter turned his attention to John. "So how long have you had a problem with Kimberley?"

Kimberley turned her attention from Baxters diploma to look at John as he replied.

"Do I have a problem with Kimberley?" He looked to the thing between their wrists and held it up. Then his eyes caught Kimberleys, who had begun to tear up again.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Kimberley rolled her eyes.

"Anything in here catch your eye?" Baxter asked Kimberley.

"One thing and I know what it means." Kimberley replied.

"Hmm?" Baxter asked.

"Your diploma from Cambridge." She motioned with her right hand. "It shows my wish for my psychology degree."

"Hmm." Baxter replied. "Anything else?"

"I know, but you're not telling anyone." Kimberley replied to him, giving him the glare she has reserved for Kavanaugh, John or Porter.

Baxter nodded and subtly sat up on the chair.

"Is there anything that catches your eyes?" Baxter spoke to Dara.

"The dolls?" She shrugged.

"Ah, so you have problems with your femininity." Baxter replied.

"Hey there's nothing wrong with her feminity." John glared to the shrink.

"You ever think I just find them pretty?" Dara pointed out.

"Well, possibly." Baxter backed down. "Anything else?"

"I like your plants." She added.

"Which ones?" Kimberley asked.

"The real ones?" Dara wasn't too sure. 'Are they double teaming me?'

"How do you know they're living?" Kimberley asked.

"Uh, because they're moving? And shedding their leaves." Dara pointed out.

"Huh." Kimberley nodded slowly.

"Anyway, before we get into Daras wish for children-" Baxter paused as John chocks on air. "Maybe we should talk about you shared need for survival? Do you think there was anything that influenced the machine to choose the partners that it did."

The group looked at each other then shrugged as one.

"Do you not find it strange that you are paired with someone who you have obvious personality clashes with?" Baxter continued.

"I have a personality clash with Rodney? I thought I got along with everyone-" Dara ignored Kimberleys bark of laughter. "Well I thought everyone got a long with me. Huh, guess I'll have to look into that."

John looked over Baxters lap to see the words 'emotional compulsive liar?' on his note pad.

"So you don't think you have any problems?" Baxter was now openly staring at them.

"We've got our hang ups." Kimberley began. "But nothing that isn't normal for a person of our situation. Some of us have problems that stem from before we came here, and it's nothing that will interfere with how we operate on Atlantis."

Slowly everyone turned to look at her.

Kimberley took a double look once she noticed them. "What?"  
o0o  
"I think we're going to have a problem." John suddenly spoke to Rodney.

"What now?" The scientist demanded in a sigh.

"I need to go."

"Go? Go where?" Rodney was confused.

"He needs to pee." Kimberley rolled her eyes and stood up.

Rodney and Dara watched as the two disappeared into a bathroom.

"Wow, she must be really ticked off." Rodney commented, and then frowned. "Damn, now I have to go."

Dara rolled her eyes and followed him into one of the bathrooms.  
o0o  
Kimberley waved goodnight to Dara, who sighed as she was dragged along with Rodney to one of the family rooms.

John wondered if Kimberley was going to freak out about sharing a room with him, or if she was going to do any of those girly things before she went to bed. 'Is she going to want to change clothes?'

Kimberley allayed his fears by heading straight for the bed, laying down slowly as John mirrored her movements and turned on to her side.

'This is going to get sore soon.' John thought to himself as he felt his arm began to stiffen up and hoped she fell asleep quickly.

Kimberley listened to Johns breath calm, letting her know he had slipped off to dream land, and brought her right hand up to her face, wiping the tears from her face. 'This is going to be a long night.'  
o0o  
John felt a tug on his arm and woke up with a start. Blearily he looked around for Kimberley, then realized his arm was dragging down to the floor. Peering over the edge, he frowned at the site of her on the ground, a pillow under her head and smile on her face. 'Why is she on the floor?'

"Colonel Sheppard, come in Colonel Sheppard." His earpiece called and he quickly attached it to his ear and pressed the accept call button.

"This is Sheppard." He answered seriously, and then grinned. "We'll be right there."

He bent down with his unattached arm and poked Kimberley in the stomach, calling her name.

Kimberley sat up straight, her right hand swinging at his head. With a shriek, she backed away, causing him to fall from the bed and onto the floor, dragging his cheek along the carpet before she woke up completely and just stared at him.

Gingerly he touched his cheek. "Doc's got a way of getting these things off."

Kimberley nodded and ran a hand through her hair, moving to stand up.  
o0o  
Kimberley glared at Carson. "You're using my soup to do what?"

"I'm sorry Kimberley, but it's a really good dissolvent." Carson smiled apologetically at her. "Your last batch was much better."

"The one that stopped AT7's runs?" She blinked.

"Well, better for them anyway." Carson agreed.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "But I've got half a mind to stop giving you my attempts at cooking!"

'That's not really a threat.' Dara thought as she brought her and Rodneys arms up. "We'll go first if you want."

"No chance Baldwin." Kimberley stepped in front of her and brought John with her in surprise. "We're going first."

"Okay." Dara nodded, letting her friend take charge for a change.

They watched as Carson dipped a test tube into a large box with a 'WARNING: Hazardous materials' label on it. He quickly brought the tube over to their wrist and gently poured it over the cast, taking a step back as it began to smoulder, the cast bubbling away as it melted.

"We're free!" John grinned and did a happy dance after a few minutes, waving his arms about to emphasis the point.

"Yeah, yeah, us next." Dara stepped forward, dragging Rodney with her.

"I thought we had a good time together?" Rodney looked confused.

'Good time?' Dara thought back to the night before, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

_Rodney motioned with one hand to Dara to hand him a tool._

_Dara picked up the tool and, without thinking, hit him over the head with it._

_Rodney stopped working and glared at her, then resumed working, snapping his fingers at her moments later for another tool._

_Not so secretly, Dara grinned and pick it up, before bonking it off his head once more._

_"Hey!" Rodney declared, glaring at the female._

_"You weren't brought up with no manners." She glared at him._

_"Can you hand me the tricordor please?" He sighed with the injustice of it all. 'Of all the minions to get stuck to, I get the crazy one.'_

_Swiftly Dara took the item back from him and struck him over the head once more._

_"What was that for!" He demanded, rubbing his head with both hands._

_"Thinking what you were thinking!" Dara replied and yanked her hand down._

"If you could call it a good time." She eventually replied, watching with a morbid fascination as the cast began to melt away. "Do I even want to know how you thought about using this?"

"No." Carson replied instantly.

John smiled to Kimberley. "We good?"

Kimberley stared at him. "I know I fucked up, you're the one with the problem."

John dropped the sigh and put a hand through his hair. "Look, Kimbo-"

"Only my friends get to call me Kimbo." She interrupted.

Dara rolled her eyes as the two continued to bicker. 'If I didn't know any better I'd say it was sexual tension.'

Kimberley shrugged before getting this 'oh my god' look on her face. Quickly she turned to John. "Even though I am not talking to you, does Dara know?"

"Does Dara know what?" John asked, and tried to back away.

"That you're on a first name basis with her." She grinned some more.

"That she's what now?" Dara demanded.


	31. Too Be Young Again

"Why do we both have to be here?" Kimberley asks.

"Because Col. Carter said so," replies John.

"Buck up, Kimberley! Imagine all the fun we can have by messing with John's brain!" Dara exclaims.

"But I don't want to mess with John's brain."

"Hey! I don't want my brain messed with!"

Dara rolls her eyes and walks up along with Ronon through the halls. "Those two are no fun."

All Ronon does is reply with a very small smile.

"I think I found something!" Rodney exclaims from the doorway.

"What is it that you found?" Teyla asks, holding her P90 up, sweeping the area.

"I'm not sure, but I do know that it has a power source."

Quickly the group moves into the room and sweeps the area, making sure that everything was safe. After a few minutes, John gives the okay. As they browsed the ruins, trying to get their heads wrapped around the Ancient runes, Rodney quickly started working through the computer files on the data system.

"Is that suppose to do that?" Kimberley asked as she pointed to a machine with glowing lights.

"How do I know? I'm way over here!" Rodney exclaims.

"Kimberley, how about you step away from the machine," Dara says as she tries to grab Kimberley and pulls her away.

The next thing, the both of them knows, two arms come out of the ceiling and pinned them to the floor. "Dara! Kimberley!" John yells as he tries to get to them.

All of a sudden to syringes started to aim towards the girls. John and Teyla manages to get to Dara, both of them trying to lift the arm off of her, as Rodney and Ronon tried the same thing with the arm holding Kimberley down.

"Remind me to never go on a mission at the same time with Kimberley and all four of you!" Dara yells.

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Nothing personal against you, but this seems like a very bad luck kind of thing!"

As the syringes moved closer, Ronon had enough and pulled out his gun. Carefully he takes aim at the one going towards Kimberley and fires it off. The energy from his weapon gets absorded into the machine, but doesn't slow down the syringe. Growling he grabs the hand gun out of the holster on Rodney. Repeating the same thing, this time the bullet ricochet.

"Can we please try not killing me! I want to live!" Kimberley exclaimed, as the bullet barely missed her.

"Guys!" Dara screams as she kicks her feet. "It's getting to close for comfort!"

Even when the group tried to grab the syringes, they couldn't stop them then. The next thing everyone knew, they were injecting a strange liquid into the girls' necks. Not more than a second later, the arms lift up, letting them up, which they both sit up.

Kimberley lightly touched the spot where the syringe went in and got this look of horror. Dara just sat there, rubbing at it, as if that would make it go away. "Never again. You hear me? Never again! Now, can we please go see Dr. Keller?"

* * *

Kimberley sat on the gurney, swinging her feet over the edge. She watched as Dara just laid there, starring at the ceiling. She also watched as John paced back and forth as Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla sat in the chairs, waiting for Dr. Keller to come.

"What's the veridict, Doc?" John asked as Jennifer came up.

"Well, the scans and the blood work came back negative. Just to be on the safe side though, I want them here overnight for observation."

"I don't want too!" Kimberley exclaimed.

"But-" Dara starts to say, before Jennifer interrupts.

"No, buts about it!"

"Though luck, guys. I'll be by tomorrow morning to check up on you," John says, just before he leaves with the gang.

"This is no fun," Kimberley says as she crosses her arms in front of her.

Dara stretches her arms above her head and yawns. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to get some sleep." Jennifer goes over and looks Dara over. "What?"

"I'm just making sure that isn't apart of what just happened to you."

Dara just rubs the spot on her neck and shakes her head. "Could it be from the fact I just had a lot of adrenaline coarsing through the system and it's now wearing off."

"That's possiable."

"Good! Good night." Dara lays down and turns over. Preparing to go to sleep.

Kimberley looks at Dara, then at Jennifer. "That sounds like a good idea. That way it'll be tomorrow sooner."

Jennifer looks at the two of them, throws her hands up in the air and walks away.

* * *

A small blue eye pops open and looks around. "I don't want to get up to pee. It's warm." Finally the bladder called more than the comfort of a warm bed. As the person pulls her legs out from under the covers, she noticed a pair of white pants under there. "Pants? What are those doing there?" She grabs them, balls them up, and throws them over the end of the bed. Looking around she carefully drops down to the floor and finds the bathroom.

About that time, the other person woke up and looked around. Blinking, she doesn't recognise anything around her. After a minute or two she figured she was in some sort of hospital. Realising that was where they kept the pointy needles, she quickly gets out of the bed and takes off running, to find a place to hide.

The bathroom door opens, as she wonders back towards the bed, she rubs her eye with her fist. When she gets to the bed she looks up at it. Putting her hands on it, she jumps up and was about to get comfortable, when she realised something. "Jellybean?" Looking around, she couldn't find the thing she was looking for, so she gets down and begins to wander. After a minute or two, she began to realise the fact, she wasn't anywhere she knows. Fear began to set in and she takes off to find the one thing, that she was sure was somewhere there, to comfort her.

* * *

The next morning, Jennifer made her way towards the two gurneys, but met John along the way. "What are you doing here, so early."

"Trying to see if my two team mates are okay. Is there something wrong with that?"

Jennifer gives him a look, then continues on. "I guess not."

"I didn't think so."

Jennifer was going to respond with something, when she stops at the now two empty gurneys. "Where did they go?"

John raises his hands up. "Don't look at me! I haven't even seen them yet, today."

Jennifer quickly turns and heads out of the infirmary, closely followed by John. Hitting her ear piece, she says, "Chuck, can you pull up last night's security footage from the infirmary."

"Sure thing, Dr. Keller," Chuck replies.

* * *

Rodney jerked awake from his stool in his lab. Looking around and blinking, he realised it was morning. Standing up, he makes his way over to the one counter that wasn't used for science, but for coffee. Checking the coffee machine, he realised it was completely empty. Sighing, he opens the top cupboards, trying to find a new bag. As he opened the last one, he noticed a little girl wearing an adult infirmary shirt, sitting in the cupboard. "What are you doing in there?"

Looking quite scaried, she scooges closer towards the back.

Figuring she was an Athosian kid that had gotten lost, he grabs her and pulls her out. "Don't you know that you're not suppose to be in here?"

Shaking her head, he could see tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Look, don't do that! I'm sorry I yelled at you. You shouldn't be in here. Go find your mother or father."

Sniffling, she finally says, "I don't know where they're at."

"Well, that's not my fault. Go back to the infirmary, they'll help you there."

"Can you show me?"

"What? No!" About that time Rodney looked down and seen she was giving him this sad look and was holding her hand up towards him. He couldn't resist her after that. "Fine!" he huffs out and carefully he takes her hand and starts to lead her towards the infirmary.

* * *

Ronon walked into the sparring room for the morning. John had said he would meet him here once he made sure that the girls were okay. Picking up a wooden practice sword, he swings it around for a few minutes. He stops when he hears a small voice asks, "Can I play too?"

Turning, he sees a small girl next to one of the potted plants, starring at him. Smiling, he says, "Sure." Grabbing another wooden practice sword he hands it to her, then carefully points his towards her. "Come at me."

Looking at him, then at the sword, she shrugs her shoulders. Quickly, she runs towards him, manages to duck under his swing, and gets a good hit on his shin.

Jumping up and down in pain, Ronon managed to look down and noticed that she actually got him good enough to bleed. "Good shot, Kid." Sighing, he gets a better look at the wound, where he realized that he was going to need stitches. "Okay, I've got to go to the infirmary. You should probably go see your guardians."

Cocking her head to the side, she says, "I don't know where mom and dad are at."

Really noticing that she was wearing an Adult Infirmary shirt, he holds his hand down. "Come on, they might be in the infirmary."

Shying a little away from his hand, she shakes her head. "It's scary in there. It smells funny."

"Come on. I'll protect you. Not to mention, I need someone to hold my hand when they fix this boo-boo."

The little girls smiles and takes his hand. "Don't worry. They can't hurt you when I'm around!"

* * *

As Rodney walked down the hallway, he was surprised by the fact that the child wasn't saying anything at all. Not only she wasn't saying anything, she wasn't asking him any questions, like most children like to do. When he finally rounded the corner and enter the infirmary, he says, "I think you lost this."

Jennifer comes rushing over and quickly checks the child over. "Where did you find her?"

"She was hiding in a cabinet. Why?"

"Because Dara and Kimberley are missing."

"What does one little girl have to do with them missing?"

"Well, Rodney, we pulled up the security tapes and found out they changed into children," says John as he walked up.

"What? You've got to be kidding me! Right?"

"Unfortunately, no we are not."

"So, wait. Who do I have?"

"We, uh, don't know," John says quietly.

"So were is the other one?"

"Right over there." John points towards an infirmary bed that currently held Ronon.

He was currently laying there as Dr. Beckett was stitching up his shin. The other little girl was sitting on the bed next to him, watching him. "Don't you hurt him!" she demanded towards Carson.

"How can you not know. That one definitely sounded like Dara."

"And what about her?" John asks as he pointed towards the other girl, that was now starting to hide behind Rodney.

"Look at her. Dara doesn't hide. She stands her ground. That definitely has to be Kimberley. Why she seems to be bonding to me, I don't know," Rodney snorts out.

"Well, either way, I need to take her blood," Jennifer says. She reaches her hand out towards the little girl and says, "Do you want to come with me, sweetie?" Kimberley shied back, behind Rodney a little more, shaking her head. "Come on. It won't hurt. I promise." Kimberley shakes her head even more and continues to hide.

Sighing, Rodney looks at Kimberley and then at Jennifer. "Let's go."

"Why?" Kimberley quietly asked from behind him.

"Because in order to get better, Jennifer needs to check you out."

"I'm sick?"

"Yesyesyes. You're very sick. Now, if it helps any, I'll do the procedures with you."

Blinking up at him, she slowly replies, "Will you?"

He was hoping that she wouldn't hold him to that, but unfortunately she did. As she sat through all the blood drawings and scans, he did too. When she was done and had wandered off, to get away from the machines, Rodney sat up and just looks at Jennifer. "I can't believe I did all that. For a kid!"

"Aww, cheer up, Rodney," Jennifer says as she smiled at him.

"Why?"

"Because I thought it was very sweet of you."

Rodney looks up hopefully. "Really?"

"Yes."

About that time John came over, with Dara holding his hand and Kimberley shyly following after them. "Rodney, Jennifer, you should come with us."

Jennifer turns towards John and the girls and smiles. "Where are we going?"

"I figured we should all get some breakfast together. It'll probably be good for Dara and Kimberley."

Jennifer turns towards Rodney, then back at John. "We would love too. It'll be fun."

* * *

"Okay, Rodney you take Kimberley up through the line and I'll take Dara," John says as he looks at the buffet line.

"Why do I have to take Kimberley? Why can't you or someone else do it?"

John looks towards Kimberley, who was now kind of inching closer to Rodney. With a smile he looks up at Rodney. "I don't think she'll let anyone else help."

Sighing, Rodney looks at Kimberley himself. "Alright, fine. Let's go."

Jennifer couldn't help, but to smile as she watched Rodney walk away, holding Kimberley's hand. She wasn't very hungry, because of the fact she had eaten early that day. Turning she heads over to the table that Teyla, Kanaan, and Torren were currently occupying.

"Jennifer, it's nice to see you. How is everything?"

"It's fine, considering our current situation."

"I'm confused. What situation?"

At that moment, Jennifer could kick herself. No one had informed Teyla about what happened to Dara and Kimberley. Sitting down at the table, she quickly filled Teyla in, getting as much information as she could before the rest of the group came over.

About that time, Ronon, John, and Dara came over to sit down. John carefully helps Dara sit down on the seat and hands her a bowl of cereal off his tray.

"Is that all she wanted?" Jennifer asked as she looks at the small bowl, as Dara began to eat at it.

"Yeah, I couldn't talk her into anything else," John replies as he starts to dig into his food.

"Yes, yes, have a seat," Rodney says, as he came up to the table with Kimberley. They watched as Kimberley pushed her own tray, with a plate of pancakes, on to the table herself. With a little effort, she managed to get herself to sit down, without any help.

They watched as Kimberley stabbed her pancakes repeatedly, then rubbed the butter on them. "Would you like some syrup?" John asks as he holds out a few packets towards her.

Kimberley shakes her head and mumbles a little quietly, "No, thank you."

John leans over a little to watch Kimberley eat the pancakes with just the butter. Sitting back, he gets a confused look on his face. "Are you okay, John?" Teyla asks.

"Yeah, I think so. Just something about the way they're acting. I'm not sure on who is who."

"What makes you say that?" Rodney asks. "I thought we already went over this!"

"No, reason," John mumbles into his food.

"So, what are we going to do?" Ronon asks, as he pushes now empty tray way from himself.

John takes a bite of his food, chews on it slow, then says, "Well, we have to see Col. Carter and debrief her on the situation. After that, I really don't know. Mostly all I can think of is fixing this problem."

"If you would like, Kanaan, Torren, and I are going to New Athos. We can take Dara and Kimberley with us and watch them, as you guys debrief Col. Carter."

Jennifer gives of a smile. "I think that would be a lovely idea. Maybe that way, you can get them a new change of outfits, so that way they don't have to wear the hospital shirts all day."

* * *

Col. Carter sat at the head of the conferences table, looking at the small group that was in the room with her. "So, what do we know?"

Jennifer flips open her medical report, then browses through it to confirm, before she speaks up. "Well, first medical scans and blood tests I did, before this happened showed no signs what so ever. After the incident, I did another one and found a type of chemical actually in their cells, somehow keeping them in a very young state."

"Wasn't the point of the first set of tests, to find it before it happened?" John asked, seeming a little miffed about something.

"There was no way of knowing," Jennifer replies. "The chemical compound had dispersed and reached to the very cellular level before they even came back from the planet."

"We've dealt with all kinds of crazy before, don't you think to look for stuff like that," John replies back.

"I'm sure Jennifer did everything in her power," Rodney snarks back. "The real question, is what are we going to do now?"

"I'll have Maj. Lorne and his team go back to the planet and see if they can get any information from the ruins. Hopefully there is an answer there," Col. Carter replies.

"What about until then," Ronon finally speaks up.

Col. Carter sighs and puts her hands together and looks at the small group. "We try and help them. At least as best that we can."

* * *

Teyla turned and watched as the girls watched as the Stargate shut down. Once it was done with that, Teyla reached out her one hand that wasn't holding Torren. "Come along. We have much to do before we have to get back."

"Okay!" Dara exclaim as she ran over and grabbed at Kanaan's hand. Kimberley just nodded, went over, and carefully takes Teyla's hand.

Soon, they made their way towards the village. When they arrived, they entered a tent that belonged to Halling. "Ah, Teyla! Kanaan! Welcome back. Is that little Torren? My he has gotten bigger."

"Greetings Halling," Teyla says in reply.

Looking, he happens to see the two girls with the Athosian family. "Who are these two?"

"Halling, I do believe you remember Dara and Kimberley."

"Yes, but are they not older."

"Let's just say, one of our many adventures has caused this resent event."

Nodding towards Teyla, Halling moves towards the table. "How long will you be staying with us?"

"Not long, I'm afraid. I really need to get these two back. I figure I would bring them, so they can get some air and hopefully a couple sets of new outfits."

"Quit a wise idea. I do believe Anika is in her hut. She will probably be willing to make them some outfits."

"Thank you, Halling. Kanaan, I will take the girls. I shouldn't be long."

Kanaan give her a smile and carefully takes Torren from her. "I do not worry. I shall be here."

Nodding, Teyla grabs Dara's hand and leads her out of the hut and towards another one, that she knew housed Anika. When she reached the blanket that covered the opening, she quietly calls out Anika's name before she steps into the hut. Anika comes out of the back room and smiles at the sight of Teyla and the two girls. "Have you fostered more children?"

"No, actually. These are... friends. I have brought them mostly for the fact I was hoping you would be able to make them some outfits."

Anika looks the two little girls over and smiles. "It would be my pleasure." She kneels down, so she could be at eye level with them and smiles. "Would you two like to come with me? You can pick out the material and colors I can use on your new outfits."

"Yeah!" Dara says excitedly and rushes over towards Anika. Kimberley on the other hand just nods and barely whispers out a "Sure," before she slowly heads over towards Anika herself.

* * *

John stood in the Gate room and watched as Teyla steps through the event horizon. She was soon followed by Kanaan, holding Kimberley's hand. He kind of smiled at the fact that she was wearing a type of pink outfit. Frowning, he realised that Torren wasn't with any of them, until he watched Dara walked through with a plain outfit, carrying Torren along.

"What's a matter?" Rodney asked John, when he noticed the confused look on his face.

"The outfits seemed right, but the attitudes, they still seem off."

Rodney sighs and walks away, muttering something about already going over this again.

* * *

Rodney stared at the pictures that Maj. Lorne and his team had brought back from the planet. It was taking longer than he preferred to translate the ruins, but he had to if he wanted to fix Kimberley and Dara. After a while, he sits back and groans. "This would just go a lot faster if Kimberley could remember how to translate!"

Wondering where she had gotten to, he got up and went around the desk. There she laid, on her stomach, coloring a picture she drew. As he stared at the picture, there was something about it that caught his attention. "What's that?" he asked her.

Looking up, she blinks at him. "It's my superhero and a bad guy."

Kneeling down, he gets a good look at the drawing, when the bad guy seemed to get his attention. "Tell me about the bad guy."

"He's evil. Sucks life from his hand. He goes by the name Wraith."

Not liking where that idea of her's was going, he points to the superhero. "And who is that?"

"She's my superhero! Lady Dark Hope!"

"Right."

* * *

Rodney walks into the sparring room to see Ronon showing Dara a few moves, while John watched. Go over, he sits down next to John. "I think we have a problem," he calmly says towards John.

John looks at Rodney. "What is it? Does it have something to do with translation?"

"Actually, no. It has something to do with what Kimberley drew."

"What?"

Rodney pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket and carefully unfolds it. Handing it to John, he asks, "Recognise any of that?"

"That kind of looks like a Wraith."

"Exactly! That person there, is Kimberley's superhero: Lady Dark Hope."

John stares at Rodney like he had said something weird. "That's one of Dara's handles on the Internet."

"That reinforces my idea."

"That is?" John asks.

"That their adult minds or memories are slowly starting to seep through. If that is a good or a bad thing, I don't know."

* * *

John walked down the hall, with one thing on his mind. He was bound and determined to sort out who was who, once and for all. As he made he's way, Rodney comes up along beside him. "What is that?" Rodney asks as he points to the item in John's hand.

"What, this?" John questions as he raise up a pink stuffed rabbit. "This is Jellybean."

"I didn't ask who it was, I asked what it was?"

Sighing, John runs his hand through his hair. "It's Dara's. I'm a little tired of assuming who is who. I figured this will sort it all out."

"How do you even know about her stuffed animal?" Rodney questions.

About that time, they entered the mess hall, where Telya was watching the two girls. When the two of them get a look at John and Rodney, they come running over. "Hey! There's my two favorite girls!"

"John! You should come see what I drew!" exclaimed the one they've been assuming was Dara. The quiet "Kimberley" inched closer to Rodney, as she usually did when he was around. "What's that?" the "Dara" asked, as she pointed to the stuff pink rabbit.

"Don't you know who this is?" John asked as he held the rabbit out a little more.

Shaking her head, she says, "Nuh, uh. Is he mine?"

Both Rodney and John were surprised when "Kimberley" spoke up and said, "No, he's mine."

The other girl turned towards her and sticks out her tongue. "How do you know? He could be giving it to me!"

Shaking her head she quietly says, "But, Jellybean is mine."

John gives off a smile and kneels down a little, causing Dara to hide behind Rodney a little more. "He certainly is." He carefully holds the rabbit out towards Dara and she slowly reaches out, then quickly takes him. Hugging him close for protection.

"I totally didn't see that one coming," Rodney comments.

* * *

Carson watched as Dara colored on some paper, with Jellybean sitting next to her, and Kimberley running around the room. About that time John walks in and sits down next to Carson. "Strange, isn't?"

"What is?" Carson asked as he turned to look at John.

"How opposite there personalities are when they are young."

"Yeah," Carson replied as he turned to watch Kimberley run around. "Kind of makes you wonder what happened to them, that would make them change that much, as they got older."

"Though," John says as he watched Dara. "There are still some personality traits that are still there."

"What are you talking about?" Carson asked.

"Look at Dara. Still Anti-Social. Just does it differently. Not to mention, Kimberley is still out going."

They watched as Dara got up and went over to Kimberley. She whispered something over towards her. They noticed Kimberley say something to Dara and she just shakes her head. Kimberley soon made her way over towards the two of them, then stops in front of them. "Dara says she hungry."

John looks at watch, then says, "Yeah, it is about lunch time." John takes one of Kimberley's hands, then reaches his other hand out towards Dara. "Coming?"

Dara nods, but doesn't even take his hand. Quietly, she mumbles something into Jellybean's head.

"What was that, lass?" Carson asks.

"I can follow," Dara barely says loud enough.

"Okay," John says as he nods.

Soon the group made their way through the halls, until they reached the mess hall. Soon Carson and John helped Dara and Kimberley get their lunch. Quickly they make their way over to a table that Ronon was currently occupied. Ronon looked at the small amount of food on Kimberley's tray and the large amount on Dara's. "Finally someone that can eat more than Rodney," Ronon commented.

"I'm just wondering where she puts it all," John says as he watched her scarf it all down.

"Well, she is a growing girl," Carson replies.

Taking a bite of his food, then swallowing it, John looks at Carson. "So, any progress with the girls?"

Carson sits back and sighes. "Jennifer and I have been running every test when can think of, without trying to force them into the infirmary. So far, we've found nothing."

John rubs his forehead. "You know as well as I do, that if we don't fix this, it'll be a big problem."

"You don't think I don't know that!"

"I know, you know that. I can't help but be a little afraid."

"Why is that?" Carson asked.

"Some of the things Dara has told me about her mother, scare me." John happened to glance over at Dara. He couldn't help, but to smile at the fact she had finished her food and was about to fall asleep into her tray. "Well, Carson. I better get Dara here to Rodney."

Carson looks over at Dara. "Why Rodney?" he asks.

"Oddly enough, he's the only one that she'll listen too."

"That is very weird."

"Yes, it is and annoying."

Carson watched as John got up and managed to wake Dara up enough to get her to follow along. "Good luck, John."

* * *

Rodney stepped outside of his office and stretches. He had just finally gotten Dara down for a nap, on the cot that was in there. Even when she was well behaved, she was still hard to get to lay down. Sighing, he starts to make his way down the hall for something to eat, when he seen Jennifer and a team of medics come running down the hall. "What's going on?"

Jennifer stops right next to him and gives him a funny look. "Didn't you just radio a medical team to your office?"

Shaking his head, he replies, "No. Why would I do something like that?"

About that time a loud crash came from his office, alerting everyone to that fact. Quickly Rodney, Jennifer, and the medical team into his office to see Dara standing in the middle of it. Grabbing his stool, she flings as best as she could across the room. It was then she noticed everyone standing there looking at her. "What in the hell is going on?"

"Mind your language, young lady!" Rodney exclaimed. "Now get your butt back into to bed and take your nap!"

Dara's eyes narrow dangerously at him, even from looking down at her, when she slowly says, "Don't you dare boss me around Rodney." Looking towards Jennifer, she says, "What is going on with me? Does this have anything to do with those stupid needles?"

"Dara?" Jennifer slowly asks.

"Yeah! Who in the hell do you think it is?"

"Ummmm, if you haven't notice your current situation," Jennifer says, indicating towards Dara.

Dara stopped and actually looked down at herself. "Yeah, I'm little! What happened?"

"Well, the best that we can tell is that you and Kimberley were turned into little kids."

Blinking towards Jennifer, they could tell she was trying to hold back her anger. "The best that you can tell?" Dara began to pace back and forth, trying to get a handle on things. Throwing her hands up into the air, she mutters, "Kids? Seriously?"

Rodney leans over towards Jennifer and whispers, "This is kind of weird watching a kid acting like a grown up."

"I think it's more like a grown up in a kid's body," replies Jennifer.

"Hey! Will you two stop... mocking... me..."

"Dara!" Jennifer exclaims as she rushes forwards to grab Dara as she fell.

"Is she okay?" Rodney asks.

"Her breathing and heart rate are normal. We have to get her..." Jennifer stops when she noticed Dara turned a little, then opened her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Dara slowly nods her head towards Jennifer, but kept her mouth clamped shut. Looking around, she notices Rodney and quickly scooges her way over to him.

Rodney sighs in defeat as Dara clings to the back of his leg. "I take it Little Dara is back."

Jennifer stared at Dara, then looked up at Rodney. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Can you convince her to help me run some tests on her?"

"Why?"

Jennifer smiles up at Rodney. "I think I have an idea on how to change them back. The thing is, I need you to finish translating those pictures Maj. Lorne brought back."

* * *

"Rodney," a little voiced whined.

"I'm right here! Don't worry," Rodney responded as he walked into the infirmary, holding a bunch of photos. He goes over and sits down in the chair next to the bed. He watched as one arm had Jellybean in a strangle like hold, as the other hand reached out towards him. Sighing, he carefully takes her hand and holds it.

About that time, John came rushing into the infirmary. "I just got word. What is going on?"

"I may have the solution, Col. Sheppard," Jennifer replies as she come walking up with a bunch of medical items.

"That would be?" John asks.

"Sleep."

"What?" Rodney questions, being confused as the look on John's face.

"Sleep is known to do a lot of healthy benefits for the body. Some even say heal all types of ailments and damage, at a faster rate, then awake. The body sees the chemical as a foreign invaded, but the immune system isn't the strongest when awake. That's not including the fact that their immune system is at a younger setting. Sleep will cause their bodies to naturally up the white blood cell count to fight better."

"That's why when Dara took her nap, she was awake as herself!" Rodney exclaims.

"That's right. I had a feeling, when we kind of lost her, it was because her mind was kind of waking up."

"So, what are you planning on doing?" John asked, looking between Rodney and Jennifer.

"I'm not positive, but I'm hoping that if I put Dara into a deep enough sleep, she should wake up completely normal." Rodney gives off a small snort towards Jennifer's direction. "Well, as normal for her."

"Alright, let's get too it," John says.

Jennifer grabs a needle and goes for Dara's arm. A look of terror fills her eyes and she twists away, almost climbing into Rodney's lap. "No! Keep away!"

"Jennifer," Rodney whispers towards her. "How safe is this?"

"I'm pretty sure it's safe."

"Pretty sure?" John questions.

"Okay, there might be a slight chance that it won't work and this could only make their adult minds stuck in their child like bodies. That's the least worst case scenario."

"Are you kidding me! Maybe we should see if someone will volunteer."

"They're kids," Rodney says towards John.

"I know that, but we can see if Kimberley would want to. She's seems a lot less afraid of the infirmary, than Dara."

Jennifer shakes her head towards John. "If this does work or don't, she would kill me if I let Kimberley volunteer. If there is the slightest chance that this could go wrong, she would want it happen to herself."

John fumes and points to the scared Dara. "Does she look like she wants to volunteer?"

"I'm sorry, John. She is the best hope at getting them fixed. Her immune system isn't the best now, but as the age kicks in, her immune system will get better. You know as well as I do, her immune system is better than most people on Atlantis here."

John runs his hand down his mouth, really quick. "Okay. Fine. Is there anyway I can help?"

"I wish there was," Jennifer replies. "I doubt you know of a way to keep her calm, without giving Rodney the death grip."

Slowly, a smile appears on John's face. "I think I have an idea." Running out of the infirmary, Jennifer and Rodney watched him go.

After a minute, Rodney had managed to get Dara back on to the bed, but not quit calm. He almost jumped out of his seat when John comes rushing back. Moving over towards the bed, John holds up a small red device. "What is that?" Rodney asks.

"A Zune," John casually replies. Not even looking away from Dara, he holds it up for her to see. "Will you behave for Dr. Keller to do her test, if I give you this?" Dara shakes her head and moves a little more away from John. "Do you know what this has on it?" She shakes her head even more, as she clings tighter to Jellybean. "Well, let me tell you. This has one Disney movie on it. It's called Beauty and the Beast. Do you want to watch that?"

Dara slowly nods her head. "Yes, please," she quietly mumbles out.

John smiles and hold the ear buds towards her. "Are you going to cooperate with Dr. Keller?" Dara nods once more and carefully puts the ear buds in. "Good." Quickly he gets everything around and starts the movie, just before he hands her the Zune.

"Thank you, Col. Sheppard," Jennifer says.

"No, problem," John says as he watched Jennifer got to work.

After about an hour, Dara's chin was resting on her chest as she slept away. Sighing, Jennifer looks at both of the men. "We should find out soon. If it's working like I think it will, then within an hour or two, we can start Kimberley on the same procedure. After that, if it's still working, they should be fine by morning."

"Thanks, Doc," John says. Looking at Dara as she slept, he quickly picks up Jellybean. Figuring that the Zune was doing some good with the medacine, he left it there and still running.

"Where are you going with Jellybean?" Rodney asked as he watched John start to walk away.

"I don't want her to be angry the first thing when she wakes up. She wouldn't want Jellybean out and about." John gives off a smile and wave, before leaving.

"Men are so weird when they are in love," Jennifer says as towards the infirmary door.

"What? Sheppard in love? Probably just wants to put another notch on his belt."

"Seriously, Rodney. Are you really that oblivious to the two of them being together."

"They're together?" Rodney questions as he turns back towards Dara.

Jennifer rolls her eyes and sighs. "No wonder it's so hard to make a pass towards you, that you can catch," Jennifer says as she walks away.

"What?" Rodney now asked, bewildered.

* * *

As John entered the infirmary, he smiled at the two women that occupied the two beds. Making his way over he nods to Kimberley as he passed by. She nods back to him, not even looking up from her laptop or pulling out her ear phones. Stopping next to Dara bed, he watched as she pressed the pause/play button on her Zune, looks up at him, and pulls out one of her ear buds. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Just coming to see how you are doing."

"I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking."

"Here, I brought you something," John says as he pulls the well known pink rabbit out from behind his back.

Dara grabs for it and quickly puts it down next to her pillow. "What is Jellybean doing out of my room? He should never leave the room!"

With a smirk, John simply replies, "Jellybean is already widely know amongst us, here on Atlantis. Mostly because some little girl wouldn't let him out of her sight, once she got a hold of him."

Grabbing her pillow she chucks it at him, with her full force. "I hate you John Sheppard!"

John just laughs at her, then out of no where his face gets serious. "I do have to ask one thing."

Going against her better judgement, Dara looks at him and questions, "What?"

"Pink?"

"What?"

Slowly a smirk appeared on his face. "You liked to wear pink?"

"AHHHHHH!" Dara admitted loudly, just before she pulled the covers over her and Jellybean's head.


	32. Everything is Wrong

Dara stood on the second story tier, over looking the Stargate operations. "What are you doing up so early?" Kimberley asked as she walked up, trying to put the sidearm holster on. Still fumbling around with it, she looks up and noticed Dara was holding a mug. "Is that tea?"

Dara rolls her eyes, sets the mug down, grabs the holster, and quickly puts it on Kimberley. Pulling the gun out of the holster, she says, "Sam and I are going to breakfast." Checking the gun over to make sure that it was real, she puts it back. "Yes, it is tea," Dara replied as she picks the mug back up.

"How did you make it?" Kimberley asks as she eyes the mug in Dara's hands.

Giving off a smile, Dara says, "You don't want to know."

"Not really tea!" Kimberley exclaims.

Dara watched as Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, and John walked towards the Stargate, looking around. "I think your ride is here," Dara replies.

Kimberley glances down and mutters to herself. Quickly, she takes off running, to meet them down there. Dara just smirks, as she watched John mention something to Kimberley. Kimberley points up towards Dara and everyone in the group looks up at her. Dara gives off a smile and waves down to them. "Good luck!" she calls out, just before they stepped through the gate.

* * *

"Okay, everyone, this is a stander explore mission. I don't want anyone to somehow find trouble," John says as he looks straight at Rodney.

"What?" Rodney asks.

"You always seem to find a way, to find trouble."

"Oh, yes, that is my whole purpose in life!"

It was then, out of no where, a blue energy slams into the back of Rodney. He went down without a sound.

"Rodney!" Kimberley yelled out as she goes over to his side, feeling for his heart beat.

"Down!" Ronon growled as he shoves her head down.

"Did you see where that came from?" John asked as he was in a crouch position, looking around.

"No," Ronon growls a reply.

"I have not," Teyla adds in.

Another blue energy shot comes out of a direction different from the last one and slams into Teyla. Ronon didn't hesitate, as he swings his gun towards that direction and fires off a couple of rounds. Without any warning, five energy shots come out of the woods and all of them slam into Ronon. He didn't even have a chance to fight them, when another volley slam into him again. John manages to make his way towards Kimberley. "Stay down," he whispers over towards her.

She watches as John hits the ground. "Not good," she says, just before she hit the ground.

* * *

Teyla slowly sat up and groaned. She knew in that instant that she was stunned and she was in a hive ship. Carefully she pulls herself into a standing position and moves over to the door with bars. "Ah, so you are awake."

"Michael," Teyla said as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Where are my friends?"

"They are in a safe place."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Believe what you want, but they are safe, for now."

Looking around, she turns towards him. "Why am I here?"

"Because, my dear," Michael said as he stepped closer. "With your help, I will prefect my race of Hybrids."

"I will not help you."

An evil like smile appears on Michaels. "Whether you are willing to help or not, makes no difference to me. In time, you will be mine." Teyla tried to suppress the shiver as his eyes raked over her. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to take care of your friends."

* * *

"Where are we?" Kimberley asked, once everyone was awake.

"Uh, in a hive," Rodney spoke with a 'duh' in his voice.

"Yeah, but whose?" Kimberley rephrased.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "It's not like we know that many Wraith!"

"Todd, Bob, Steve, Michael..." Kimberley trailed off as a shiver went down her side and she stepped away from the cell door and towards Ronon.

The cell door hissed open and Ronon pushed the only female behind him, as Michael entered the room. Michael looked around the group before his gaze settled on Kimberley, before finally stopping on John. "Col. Sheppard."

Jumping straight to the thought in his head, he asks, "Where's Teyla?"

"She's safely aboard on my Hive Ship."

John glances around the setting he was in. "I kind of figured that."

Michael lets a smile appear on his face. "Actually, you're on my planet side facility. I found in necessary to separate you."

"What for?" Kimberley asked.

Casually he glances in her direction, before he replies. "I need to time to prefect my hybrids and I don't need anyone to interfere with it."

"How would you prefect them? With Teyla?" Kimberley asked.

An evil smile slowly appears on his face. "My, you are quite quick, aren't you?"

"I don't understand! It didn't happen like that, from where I came from," Kimberley says.

Michael gives off another smile. "It seems, your reality isn't always right." With that, he turns on his heel and walks out the door.

* * *

Dara sat on her couch, her feet up on her ottoman. It was one of the few moments that she got enough peace and quiet that she could read her book. Sure, she has read it before, but she was hoping with these new life experience the morals would make more sense. After finishing one of the tales in her old AEsop's fables, she sighs. Like always, the fable didn't make any sense. Figuring she had nothing better to do, she continued on with the next one.

She was half way through her fable when there was a chime at her door. Wondering who could be bothering her at this time of the day, she gets up and heads over to the door. She swipes her hand over the crystals, letting the door open. "Ma'am," Maj. Lorne says.

"Evan, drop the Ma'am crap."

He gives off a small sheepish grin. "Sorry, Dara. Somewhat of an old habit."

She raises an eyebrow towards him and sighs. "How is that an old habit?"

"Business is involved," Evan says with a matter of fact in his voice.

Dara narrows her eyes towards him. "Business?"

Realising that he probably shouldn't had said something like that so soon, he gets a little uncomfortable in her stern glare. "Um, yeah. Col. Carter wants you in her office."

"Why?"

"Col. Sheppard's team missed the schedule check in."

Dara rolls her eyes and sighs. "Okay, lead the way."

* * *

Kimberley sighed again, as she continued to pace the room. "Will you just stop pacing, please!" Rodney whined as he watched Kimberley.

"I'm sorry! It's just... It's not right!"

"What's not right?" John asks, not even looking away from where Ronon was throwing his knives at the wall.

"Michael doesn't want Teyla, exactly. He wanted Torren. She's already had Torren, so he shouldn't be going after her."

"He wanted Torren?" John asked.

"Yeah."

"Is this the reason you guys never informed us on this."

"Ummm, yeah. Dara didn't see a reason too."

"I'm going to have to talk with her," Ronon growls out as he throws another knife.

"Alright. First, let's just get out of here," John replies.

It was at that time, one of Ronon's knives finally struck the right spot. The bars quickly pull away into the walls, allowing the team to leave the cell. Ronon makes his way over to the other side and quickly gathers all his knives back up.

"Okay, we find some weapons, save Teyla, and get out of here. Got it?" John asked. He watched as everyone nodded towards him. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

Dara quickly turns and looks behind her, then turning back she follows after Lorne's team. She had volunteered to cover their Six. She heard a quiet scrapping noise. In a second she stops and points the gun towards the corridor, at a Hybrid. She knew she had to pull the trigger, but her mind was telling her that she had see him somewhere before, she didn't place where.

A smile slowly creeps up on his face. "So, you must be one of my contributors."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Dara replied as she kept one eye on the stunner he had pointed at her. Her mind tried to do a quick calculation on how fast she could shoot to kill, before he could the fire the stunner off on her. As her mind seemed to race, bits of her mind kept reminding her something about his nose or the way his lips looked.

Tilting his head to the side, he says, "I'm surprised you haven't heard of me. My name is Nate."

Narrowing her eyes towards him, she says, "Yeah, I've heard of you. I've also heard that you got your head blown off. Pretty lively for a dead guy." It was then she knew why some of that stuff looked familiar. The nose was hers and the lips were Sheppard's.

"What can I say, but I'm a resislint little bugger."

Dara snorts towards him. She figured she could be the faster shooter. As she slowly squeezed the triggered, gun fire went off about where Maj. Lorne's team should be. It was in that second that Nate ducked into the wall. Running towards it, her hand sweeps over it. Growling, she figured that there was some secret door there. Figuring out there was nothing she could do, she quickly turns and run towards the gun fire.

* * *

As John, Ronon, Rodney, and Kimberley made their way through the halls, they came across a door that was guarded by a couple of Hybrids. "What do you wanna bet, our equipment is in that room," John says.

"Probably is," Ronon replies. Then without any warning, he pulls out a couple of knifes and runs toward the hybrids.

"Ronon! Wait!" John called out quietly. "Damn it!" John peeks around the corner and notice Ronon had managed to get one of the hybrids down and was currently fighting with the other one. John quickly runs over to the fallen hybrid and pulls the stunner off of him. Carefully he aims at the other hybrid and fires off a blast at him. When the hybrid hits the ground, Ronon just looks at him. "What?"

"About time you joined in."

"I'm sorry. Usually you get all uppity about helping you out in a fight."

"The key is speed."

Rodney leans down and whispers a little in Kimberley's ear, "Dara yells at you for corrupting the friendly aliens, when she's corrupting John."

Kimberley just smiles and nods toward him. She knew that he didn't know how much Dara was really corrupting John.

Quickly they make their way into the room and get their stuff back on. Though Kimberley did need a little help from Ronon. As Kimberley stood there and watched as Ronon put her side arm holster on, she could hear some noise. Cocking her head to the side, she tries to get a good read on the noise. "Is that gun fire I hear?"

Once finished, Ronon stands up and listens. "Yeah."

"Come on. Speed is really the key, now," John says, just before he shoots out the door.

Running through the halls they come to a room, where the hybrids had their backs to them, firing at Maj. Lorne's team and Dara. Not waiting for one second, John and Ronon open fire on the backs of the hybrids. Once they hit the ground, Dara and Maj. Lorne moved forward. Maj. Lorne nods towards John. "Sorry, sir. We moved as fast as we could."

"That's not a problem, Major."

Kimberley comes flying out from behind Ronon and John and slams into Dara. "We have a problem! A very big problem!"

"Whoa! Kimberley, slow down a little and explain."

"Michael has Teyla. He plans on using her to prefect the hybrids."

"What? She already had Torren!"

"I know. That's what I thought too. Some reason, he doesn't want Torren, he just wants her."

Dara runs her hand through her hair as her eyes seem to move back and worth, as if she was in deep thought. "This is not good."

"You're telling me. Shouldn't you inform us of this stuff?" Ronon asked as he glared down at her.

"Need to know," Dara calmly replies.

"Okay, don't give us that crap!" John exclaims.

"Uh, I don't really want to get in the middle of your guys argument, but if we want to save Teyla, we should do it now," Evan says.

"He's got a point. Any ideas?" Dara asks.

"She's on Michael's Hive ship," Kimberley replies.

Dara begins to pace back and forth. "Okay, okay. So, we get a hold of Dart. John sweeps us up and flies up to the hive ship. Yeah... That should work."

"Are we good?" John asks towards her.

"Yeah. After you," she indicates.

The rest of the group seems to roll their eyes towards the two, before they all ran through the facility. As they managed to get into the Dart bay, a bunch of hybrids open fired upon them. As they fired back at them, Dara watched from the corner of her eye as Michael made his way towards the only Dart. Looking over at Ronon, she yells, "Cover me!" Ronon just nods towards her, as he gun swings over to protect her from the other hybrids. Quickly she gets up and runs over towards Michael. When she was a few feet from him, she takes a flying leap, slamming into him.

After a rolling around for what felt like a few minutes, they both manage to get up. Michael throws a couple of punches towards her, thinking he could easily out fight her. To his surprised, she managed to duck and weave out of the way. He swings one of his legs up, hoping to hit her in the head. She quickly throws her two forearms up and blocks the kick.

Soon, it got to the point where they both kept taking hits and misses off of each other. Michael had finally gotten a lucky shot in, causing Dara to fall backwards. Even though he was tempted to finish her off then and there, he knew he had to get out of there fast. He makes his way up the ladder and sits down in the Dart. Michael hits a few buttons, getting the Dart around, when Dara manages to get up there and grabs a hold of him.

Grabbing her hands, with his one, he gets her to let him go with a large twisting motion. He watched as her face made a grimace and with his other hand, he slams it into her chest. He couldn't help, but to smile as she sailed across the room and slammed into the wall, before she slid down to the floor. Not taking anymore time, he finishes up the protocols and takes off.

About that time, Rodney had noticed that Michael had taken off and yelled over at John. "We have a problem!"

"I see that, Rodney!" John exclaims back.

"Where's Dara?" Kimberley asked as she stayed crouched down, clutching the stunner to her chest.

Rodney pokes his head up enough to see her leaning against the wall. "Cover me!" he calls out as he does a crouch run towards her prone form. He quickly grabs the handle on the back of her tach vest and begins to pull her back to the cover they had gotten.

Finally, after agonizing minutes later, they managed to defeat all the hybrids. John watched as Ronon picked Dara up and then turns back towards the open bay doors. He knew then, they had lost the only chance they could get Teyla. Shaking his head, he says, "Let's get back to the Gate. We'll have them send a Jumper through."

* * *

Carson placed the wet wipe, with anteceptic, on Kimberley's lip and smiled sadly as she winced, tears collectin once more. "Ah sorry, hen."

"It's not that Carson. It's- It's... Oh Carson! We've ruined everything!" She burst into tears and held on to him.

John watched the emotional scene, until he felt a twinge in his side. Trying to ignore it, he looked towards Lorne, who had his head in his hands. He knew there was a part of him that felt like he didn't do enough and that they didn't try hard enough to save Teyla. Sighing, he shakes his head and moves towards Dara's bed. He stops short when he notices that she wasn't in her infirmary bed.

Wondering where she could have gotten too, he quickly leaves the infirmary and makes his way through the halls. After doing a quick scan of the usual places she hides out at, he finally checks the one place that he hoped she would be at. Swiping his hand over the crystals, the door opens up into Kimberley's room. There he found her sweeping her eyes over Kimberley's laptop. "What are you doing? You should be in the infirmary bed. You have a concussion and a couple of bruised ribs."

Dara looks over at him and blinks a couple of times. She kind of wobbles a little and her left arm seemed to wrap around her chest. "I can't. I have to try and figure out how to save Teyla."

"By looking through Kimberley's stuff?"

Sighing, she goes back to scanning Kimberley's screen. "Yeah. For once, I think I'm glad she didn't listen to me about not bringing this stuff to Atlantis. Though, I don't think it'll do me any good. Everything is so messed up." She stops for a second and puts her right hand over her eyes.

"Come on," John says as he carefully picks her up. "You can do that later. You won't be any good to Teyla in that condition." Dara reached with her left hand towards the laptop, trying to grab it, when she winced and wrapped it back around her rib cage. "See. Don't worry. We'll get her back. We have you two," John says, trying to cheer Dara up.

Dara gave the laptop one last glance as he walked out of the room. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt like somehow this was her fault.


	33. Doppelganger

Dara followed after John, Ronon, and Rodney as they made their way across the planet. "See, I told you!" Rodney exclaimed as he looked at the Life Signs Detector. "That intell wasn't useful. I knew we couldn't trust that weasel."

Sighing, Dara finally got fed up with Rodney's whining. "Shut up, McKay!" Rodney stops and looks taken back by the fact it was Dara that finally snapped at him. "We have to take any chance we can get to find Teyla. Even if it's from someone that is wrong, more than half the time!"

"Thank you," John says as he continues forward, trying to find something, anything.

As Dara takes a step, she could feel herself slipping, so she shoots a hand out, placing it on a tree. She had thought she felt a small shock hit her, but after removing her hand, she doesn't see anything. "Weird," she says more to herself.

Trotting to catch up with the group, she just barely manages to see John's foot land in a small mud pit. "Okay, I think I'm going to have to agree with Rodney on this one. Let's get off this planet."

"Wait, wait! I think I have something," Rodney says.

Blinking, then sighing, Dara makes her way towards Rodney and peers at the Life Signs Detector in his hand. "You've got to be kidding me."

Rodney yanks the device out from under Dara's nose. "No, I'm not kidding." Turning he points to a glowing crystal on a tree. "It's giving off energy. That's weird."

John gets a look on his face as he steps closer towards it. "It almost looks like one of those toys you play with as a kid."

"What, Commodore 64?" Rodney asks.

"Triple-barrelled shotgun?" Ronon asks, as well.

"No, a kaleidoscope," John replies.

Rodney, turn towards Ronon and Dara. "We should really try and harvest this. Imagine if we can quite literally have an energy source that grows on trees."

"John, don't touch that!" Dara exclaims, as she goes to stop him, only to fail at that, because John just went flying backwards. Running over she tries to help him.

"Why did you touch that?" Rodney asked.

"I don't know," John replies.

"Thanks! Now it's dead."

"I didn't kill it!"

"Well, it's not giving off any energy. Why would you even touch it?"

"I already told you. I DON'T KNOW!"

After helping him up, Dara sighs. "Okay, even I think maybe we should go back now."

* * *

John sat on the gurney, swinging his feet, waiting for Dr. Keller. When she comes over to his bed side, she looks at the chart she was carrying. "Okay, your tests come out clean."

"Thanks, Doc," John says as he slides off the bed.

"No more touching strange objects."

"That's probably very good advice." As John walked out of the infirmary, he heads towards his room. About half way there, he switches directions and heads for Dara's instead. Once he knew it was safe enough, he swipes his hands over the crystals, to alert Dara that someone was at her door.

Two seconds later, Dara opens the door to let him. Quickly, she wraps her arms around him and starts to kiss him. Once they both come up for air, Dara asks, "Well, how did you check out?"

"Perfect," he says with a smirk.

"Sure, you did."

"Here, let me show you."

* * *

Dara could feel the bullets wheeze by her has she tried to run as fast as she could. No matter how fast she went, she could only go a very slow speed, because of the fact her feet kept getting stuck in the mud.

"Hurry up!" John screamed back at them.

As Dara neared Kimberley, she grabs her hand. "Come on! Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" Kimberley huffed out.

"Try harder!" Dara yanked and pulled her most of the way. As they neared the open Gate, Dara leaped towards it and in the processes, lost Kimberley's hand.

Dara slammed into the Gate Room floor, just as the Gate closed behind her. "No!"

Quickly, she gets up, not even thinking, she runs towards the Gate. Teyla and Ronon run up to her, and manages to stop her. "Dara, calm down, we'll dial the gate. She'll be fine."

The team looked up at Chuck, as he started to dial the Gate. After hitting the Point of Origin, nothing happened. "Try it again!" Dara yelled up at Chuck.

Shrugging, he tries again, this time the Gate actually locks on. Dara tries to run forward, into the event horizon, but Ronon and Teyla stops her. "You probably shouldn't see," Teyla says.

A few minutes later, John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney come back through the Gate. Teyla and Rodney gave Dara a sad look as Ronon just shakes his head.

John, on the other hand, just stomps right up to Dara. "This is your fault! If you hadn't brought her here, if you hadn't let go of her hand, she would still be alive!"

Dara falls to her knees, in disbelieve. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean too."

"Yeah, I'm sure, Kimberley wouldn't believe that," John says glaring down at her.

* * *

"Dara, wake up!" John exclaims, as he shakes her shoulder. Dara jerks awake and looks over at John. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No, why?"

"You were talking in your sleep, more than normal, that is."

"Sorry."

"That's what you were saying, was basically you were sorry. Want to tell me about it?"

"It was a nightmare," Dara said.

John pulls her stiff body, just a little closer and snuggles her a little. "It's okay. You know I'll protect you from them."

* * *

Kimberley walked into the mess hall and grabs a tray. Making a face, she puts a small bowl of cereal and a banana on her tray. She makes her way over to the table that her and Dara usually sit at. Setting down her tray, she looks at the top of Dara's head. Sitting down, she begins to eat at her cereal. She was surprised when Dara didn't look up and make some rude comment about the lack of food she was eating. Getting a little worried, she taps the table a little loudly near Dara's head.

Dara's head jerks up and looks at Kimberley with blurred eyes. "Huh, wha?"

"You fell asleep. Where's your breakfast?"

Dara rubs her eyes, mostly to get the little sleep out. "I'm not hungry."

"You of all people told me, you have to eat something for breakfast. Best way to diet."

Dara yawns and puts her head back down on the table. "Yeah, but I'm not dieting."

"You're suppose to support me!"

"I am. I'm here. I could go back to bed and try to get some sleep."

"Why are you so tired? Did you and John-"

"Don't even finish that sentence!"

Even with Dara's head down and being sleepy, she knew that Dara could still kick her butt. After finishing of her food, she says, "Maybe we should go see Ronon and train today. Maybe once we get the blood pumping through your system, you'll be more awake."

"Good idea, Kimberley," Dara says, as her hand reaches out and pats the top of Kimberley's hand. "Right after this nap."

* * *

Dara slammed into the mat pretty hard. "What's wrong?" Ronon asked.

"She didn't sleep very well, for some reason," Kimberley says from her spot.

"You've all people know sleep works in your favor."

"I know," Dara huffs out from the floor.

"Come on," Ronon reaches down with his hand. "How about another round."

"Can't I just lay here?"

"No." He indicates once more with his hand, about helping her up. Giving the hand a tired dirty look, she reaches up and takes it. Lifting her up easily, then setting her back down on her feet, he watches as she yawns. "Okay, that's it. I'm calling off this training session."

"What? No," Dara mumbles.

"You're too tired. Go get some sleep."

"Fine."

Kimberley gets up and grabs Dara's shoulders. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she goes to bed and stays in bed."

"When you get her to bed, make sure that you come back here. You still have training to do."

Kimberley looks at Ronon and gulps. "Okay."

* * *

Kimberley stumbled towards her bed, after a really hard training session. Wincing in pain, she slowly changes out of her clothes and into her PJs. Without waiting a moment, she crashes down on to the bed and buries her head into her pillow.

Soon, laughter filled the Puddle Jumper as Kimberley realised what she had said.

Dara shook her head and laughed with her friend, waiting till the Gate Reader gave an All Okay that nothing was going to cause them to blow up. After waiting for a few more seconds than necessary, Dara guided the Jumper through the Gate and pulled up, slowing their speed as they arrived at the Moon that orbited their Earth.

Their Earth, instead of blue, white, and green was a seemingly dried out husk and blue rivers turning brown with muck, as the atmosphere filled with ash-

Two dozen Hive Ships floating around the planet.

"What the hell?" Dara muttered to herself, cloaking the Jumper as both girls leaned in closer to the HUD.

"Dial the girls!" Kimberley demanded as fear spread through her body.

"It might give their position away," Dara said, shaking her head.

"Dial them anyway, just to see if they can answer!" Kimberley continues to demand.

Dara shakes her head again. "We could-"

"If you're not doing it, then I will!" Kimberley stands up and moves over, pressing the correct sequence of buttons, hand hovering over the call button. Not pausing for a breath, she presses it.

The dial tone slowly begins to ring out.

Dara looks to Kimberley, both their faces paling as the girls do not answer.

At the fourth ring, the call gets picked up. "Hello? Dara? Is that you? We need-"

"NO!" Kimberley screams as a blue energy beam shot towards Canada, blowing a small chunk of Quebec's area out of existence. "Len? Catherine? Helene? CATRIANA! Answer me, dammit!"

"Incoming call," Dara read from the HUD. "We should just go back through the Gate."

"It might be the girls." Kimberley shook her head towards her. 'Please be the girls!'

Dara's eyes flitted between Kimberley and the answer call button. "I'm leaving it up to you."

Kimberley pressed the button, jumping back as Michael's face appeared on the other side. "Michael?"

"Kimberley. Dara." The Wraith hybrid grinned. "Please, come about to my ship."

"Which one is your's?" Kimberley asked.

"Might be the one about to sit on us," Dara pointed out.

Above them the main Hive Ship lowered itself to within gravity pulling distance.

Dara flew the Jumper into the docking bay and looked at Kimberley. "Everything that happens from now on, is your fault and your's alone. If you learned to keep your mouth shut in the first place then none of this would have happened!"

Kimberley's body filled with terror at the truth of the words.

"I mean, if you just thought about things, then you would realize that every time you speak something bad is going to happen!" Dara continued, hand over the hatch control. Then, with one more glare, Dara opened the hatch. She slunk to the floor as she was shot through the chest, her blue eyes starred at Kimberley in a mix of hatred and horror as she landed on her knees. Falling forward, dead.

"Dara," she whispered, too afraid to move.

"Kimberley." Michael walked forward and placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Before I kill you, I must thank you."

"For what!" She demanded hoarsely.

"For giving me the coordinates for this wonderful all you can eat buffet." He inclined his head. "Your family were most delicious." His chuckling then bounced off of the Puddle Jumper's walls, chilling Kimberley even more.

As she walked back, she bumped into the controls of the Jumper, accepting the silent distress signal.

Michael's laughter halted as he looked at the display, causing Kimberley to turn around and stared at John Sheppard. Sparks flew behind him as the city of Atlantis was bombarded with weapons. Teyla fell from the view clutching her stomach, trying to staunch the blood flow as Ronon ran past with Carson, who was unconscious and deathly pale, in his arms.

"Four Wraith Hive Ships just popped out next to Atlantis with their weapons trained on us, before they started firing!" His face contoured in anger. "What the hell did you do!"

* * *

John watched as Carson came into the mess hall and looked around. Carson seemed to frown, at the sight that was before him. When Carson's line of sight was towards John, he signals him over. Quickly, Carson makes his way over and sits down across from John. "What's matter, Carson? You look like you lost something."

"Sorry. I was hoping to find Kimberley here. I, uh, haven't seen her all morning. I knew she and Dara usually have breakfast together."

John rubs the back of his head. "Yeah, from what I hear, Dara was really tired from working out yesterday. She's still in bed, from what I hear."

Carson nodded towards him. "So, I can't really ask Dara, can I?"

John shakes his head towards him. "No, not really. That is, unless you want to get your head bitten off."

Carson nods towards John. "Probably a wise idea."

* * *

Dara groaned and rolled over, when some threw open her curtains. "It's too damn bright!" she exclaimed loud enough.

"Sorry, Dara. I couldn't really see. I need the light to clean better."

Dara opens an eye enough to see Kimberley wandering around the room, trying to clean up. "I swear Kimberley, if you don't leave my room, I'm going to kill you. Go and clean your own."

Kimberley continues on as she casually replies, "I've already cleaned my room. Your's was the next one I need to clean."

Dara growls and buries her head in her pillow. She lifts her head enough to say, "Why must you clean mine?"

"Because I know how you live and it would seem strange if I clean anyone else's room."

By then, Dara figured she couldn't talk Kimberley out of stopping, so she just gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she comes out dressed for the day and makes her way to the door. She stops long enough and turns towards Kimberley. "I'm going to breakfast. You can join me or not. If you're not done when I come back, there will be hell to pay."

Kimberley doesn't even look up as she nods and continues on with her cleaning.

* * *

Carson sat at the table and watched as John, Rodney, and Ronon went over their events for the day. Mostly it had to do with what planets to check for Teyla and what not. As he sat there, he seen Dara come over with a tray and sits down. "Have a rough night?" Carson asks.

"No," Dara sighes out. "Just rudely awaken this morning. That's all."

Carson wasn't sure, but he was sure that John shot a scared glance in her direction. "Where is Kimberley? Don't you two usually have breakfast together?"

Dara points behind her. "She's in my room, cleaning."

"Why?" John finally turned and asked.

"I don't know." Dara turns and looks at Carson. "Do something with her. If she wakes me up like that again, when I finally got a descent night of sleep, I'm going to kill her."

Carson stands up and nods. "Not a problem. I'll see what I can do." He walks out the mess hall and makes his way towards Dara's room. When he finally reaches it, he swipes his hand over the crystals. The door opens and he sees Kimberley dusting Dara's room. "Hen? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Car," she quickly replies.

He goes over to her and gently grabs her shoulders. "You're not okay."

"Yes, I am."

"You're cleaning Dara's room. You woke her up to do it. From some of my sources, you don't wake her up. Ever."

"If you want know, I had a nightmare last night."

"Is that all?"

"Is that all? IS THAT ALL!" Without any warning, she turns and walks out of the room.

* * *

Carson made his way to the office in the infirmary. He had just finished during the rounds for his night shift. Sitting down in the chair, he looks over some of the resent reports that involved Michael.

Without any warning, he gets smacked in the back of the head. Jerking up, he sees Michael standing there. "I hope you're not sleeping. You have more of that Hoffian Drug to make."

"No, Michael. Just making sure I'm getting the formula right."

Soon, Carson was standing his cell. Wondering when his friends would come and save him. The door to his cell slowly opens up and John Sheppard walks in. Standing up, Carson sighs in relief. "About time you guys got here!"

A smile appears on John's face. "You were a hard person to find." He pulls out a side arm and fires it off. As Carson laid there bleeding, John walks over to his side. "You know, it's all your fault that the Hoffian Drug is all over this Galaxy. We should have done this sooner."

"I'm sorry," Carson managed to gurgle out.

"Sorry, but that just won't cut it," John says. Carefully he aims the gun and Carson's head and fires.

* * *

Carson jerks awake, scattering half of the reports on the floor. Realising it was nothing more than a nightmare, he sighs and starts to pick up the reports. He knew then, it was going to be a long night.

* * *

Carson slowly made his way through the halls, later that night. He was tired and exhaughted from the night. After he got that nightmare, he could see why Kimberley couldn't sleep much after having one.

As he continued walking down the halls, he wasn't really watching where he was going. That was until he bumped into Ronon, that he did notice where he was going. "Whoa! Watch where you are going, Carson."

"Sorry, Ronon. Had a rough night, so far. I'm actually surprised that I didn't see you in the infirmary."

"I actually was just training the new recruits," Ronon replied as he pats Carson's shoulder.

"Oh, that's nice," Carson replied, trying to stop his knees from buckling.

"Get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try," Carson replied as he wandered of towards his room.

* * *

Ronon made his way towards his bed. Pulling off his shirt, he just casually throws it across the room. Stopping just short of his bed, he takes of his belt with his holster and carefully hangs it on the bed post. With that, he flops down on to his bed. Giving off one big yawn, he turns over and falls asleep.

Waking up the next morning, he quickly puts on his belt and holster. Going over to where he threw his shirt, he grabs it and puts it back on. He doesn't even think about it, as he makes his way to the spot where John and him do their usual run. Standing there for a while, he began to wonder where John was at. Figuring that John slept in again, he decides to make his way to the mess hall.

When Ronon entered the mess hall, the first thing that he noticed was the fact that no one was in the mess hall. "Hello?" He quickly looks around and notices no one was there. Getting a little worried, he turns on his heels and makes his way towards Stargate Operations.

Ronon stops in the control room and looks around. It wasn't hard to tell that there wasn't anyone there. "Hello!" Fear slowly began to creep in. Soon the fear began to fuel him as he ran through Atlantis, looking for people. He runs past one of the doors, which opens up in his presence. Stopping, he looks through it to see the forest spread out before him.

Looking around, Ronon steps out, trying to figure out where he was. Not wanting to lose his train of thought, he turns around to see that the door and Atlantis was gone. He continues to stand there, trying to figure out what had happened. He didn't have much of a chance to think on it long when blue blasts started to fire at him from the woods.

Ronon took off a fast pace of speed as he tried to avoid being hit. Not paying attention to where he was going, he feels his head slamming into a low hanging branch. He blinks a couple of time and shakes his head when he realised that he was on the ground. He watched as John walked up and reached his right hand down towards him. "That looked like it hurt, buddy. Here. Let me help you up."

He looks at John and nods. Ronon reaches his hand up towards John. He watched as John quickly pulls his hand away and his left hand swings forward. He barely had to time to registers the large stick in his hand before it slammed into his head.

Ronon slowly started to come back around. Figuring he could figure out what was going on, if he stood up, he tried to move. It was then he found out he was tied up and gagged. Soon he was rolling around, trying to get the ropes off of him. Looking up, he noticed he was in a grave pit and John was standing above him. "Sorry about that. This makes it a little easier." He watched as John picked up a shovel and begins to throw dirt on him. He tried his hardest to roll around and not get buried alive, but John was putting more dirt on him than he could shake off. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon," John says as he throws a large pile on Ronon's face.

* * *

Ronon sits up and grabs his gun. Looking around, he noticed that he was still in his room and he wasn't being buried alive. Breathing in deep, he falls backwards into his bed and kept his gun to his chest. Try as he might, he couldn't get back to sleep.

* * *

"You're moving a little slow, today," John commented as he stepped back from Ronon.

"Hard time sleeping," Ronon replies back.

"Seems everyone is having that problem lately."

"Just a nightmare. Nothing more."

"Yeah, that also seems to be the problem lately, as well." John took another step back and swung his wooden practice sword around.

Ronon stands in position and holds his sword towards John. "It's done. Let's just practice."

John just shrugs his shoulders and takes running towards Ronon. He takes a swing at him and was surprised he landed a hit on him. Looking at him, he sighs. "Sorry about that. I think you're going to need stitches."

Ronon reaches up and lightly touches the spot. He pulls his hand back and looks at the blood. "I think you're right."

John comes up next to him and slaps his shoulder. "Come on. I'll walk you to the infirmary."

"Thanks," Ronon replies.

Soon, they quickly made their way towards the infirmary. Once they found Jennifer, they make their way over towards her. "Hey, Dr. Keller. Sorry to bother you, but we kind of had an accident."

Jennifer turns a looks over at John. "Ronon get a lucky shot in?"

"Actually, no. I did."

"What?" Jennifer looks over at Ronon and noticed the large cut on his head. "Well, let's get you to lay down," Jennifer said as she indicated to the infirmary bed.

Ronon goes over and flops down on to the bed and looks over at John. "I think I got it now."

"Just wanted to make sure you made it, okay."

"I'm fine."

"Okay," John just casually replies, before he takes off.

As Jennifer got the supplies around to stitch up the wound, she watches John take off. "He got a lucky shot in, huh?"

"Yeah. Just a little tired."

"Why were you tired? Were you up all night again, sparring with the Marines?"

"No, just had a nightmare. Nothing more."

"A nightmare? About your days as a Runner?"

As Ronon watched Dr. Keller's hand move back and forth as she stitched him up. "No. Nothing like that."

"Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to keep guessing?"

Ronon didn't say anything as he laid there. After a few minutes he noticed she was putting a bandage on his head. "Am I done?"

Jennifer just gives him a smile. "Yeah. Try and get a descent night's sleep. Okay? I already have to stitch you up enough."

"Will do, Doc."

* * *

Jennifer stumbled into her room and looked at her bed. It had been a long day. As she made her way towards her bed, she grabs at her ear piece. Just as she was to pull it out, a voice came on over it. "Dr. Keller, please come to the infirmary! We have a medical emergency!"

Instinct kicked in as she hits the ear piece. "This is Dr. Keller. I'm on my way. What can you tell me, while I'm heading that way."

Making her way towards the infirmary, the voice begins to fill her in. "Col. Sheppard and his team just came back from an off world mission. They found Teyla, but she's hurt really bad."

"I should be there in about in a minute." Jennifer quickly ran through the corridors, until she finally reached the infirmary. She makes her way over to the bed and looks Teyla over. She was thrashing around and holding her stomach. Looking over at John, she asks, "What happened to her?"

"We found her like this," John replies.

"Okay, hold her down. Let me see if I can get a look." Jennifer watched as the other doctors and nurses get a hold of her and pin her arms and legs down. She goes over and starts to place her hands on Teyla's stomach. At that moment, something moved blow Teyla's skin. Jennifer takes a couple of steps back in a rush.

"Doctor! What's a matter?"

"I... It's just..."

Whatever moved beneath Teyla's skin, began to do it fast and with more force. Without any warning, an Iratus Bug seems to explode from her stomach region. As Telya's eyes rolled back into her head, John looks over at Jennifer and says with a smile, "Cool!"

* * *

Jennifer sat up in a rush. Looking around, she realised that she was in her room. Sitting there, for a few minutes, she remembered that she had finished her shift and had actually made it too bed. Sitting there, she pulls her hair away from her eyes and thinks on what she's got to do tomorrow.

* * *

"I'm sorry to bother you on this, Col. Carter, but I couldn't help to notice this stuff," Jennifer said as she followed after Col. Carter.

"It's not a problem. I know how a hunch can go a long ways. I would rather you stay on your toes."

"Normally I wouldn't question it, but I kind of actually tracked it backwards through the people. That's what is so scary about it. I just don't know what to do about it."

Shen, on of the technicians in the Command center, walked up to Col. Carter and Dr. Keller. "Ma'am? Sorry to interrupt, but there is a problem in Crew Atrium Quarters. Security has already been called and they are on their way."

"Thanks Shen," Col. Carter replied before she turned on her heel and rushed to the trouble.

* * *

"Major. Put the gun down," John says as he tried making the motion with his hands up.

"Why won't anybody shoot him?" Maj. Lorne seems to ask as he keeps the gun pointed towards John.

"Evan," Dara slowly starts to say. "He is not a Replicator, so put the gun down." She slowly takes a step out from behind John, but instantly he steps back in front of her. "John, I can't talk to him if you keep blocking me."

"Yeah well, I would rather have you behind me. Where it is safer."

"If no one will shoot him, I will!" Lorne takes aim towards him.

"Whoa, whoa! I'm holding my hands up in a non-threatening manner."

"Major, what is going on?" Col. Carter asked as she came down the stairs behind John.

Lorne kind of glances at her. "He's a Replicator, Ma'am. No one is doing anything about it."

"Major, put the gun down. You know that it won't do anything for a Replicator. I'll send for an ARG, if you just lower your weapon."

"You're not seriously considering entertaining the idea," John whispers towards Col. Carter.

"It can't hurt you and it'll prove to him you're not a Replicator."

Maj. Lorne swings his gun towards Col. Carter. "She is a Replicator too!"

Dara watched as Kimberley came running down the stairs. She only got half way down them, before she threw the hand held Wraith Stunner towards Dara. Without even thinking about it, Dara caught it easily. Turning on her heel and kneeling down, she comes out from behind John and fires off a couple shots at Evan.

Just seconds after the second stunner blast hits him, a red energy blast hits him. Everyone looks up on the second story tier and sees Ronon standing there. He looks down over the railing at Dara. "Nice shot."

"Thanks?"

* * *

"It's the Nightmare Creature," Dara says as she looked at the group in the confreres room.

"When he touched the crystal doo dad, you should have known," Kimberley said towards Dara.

"I know, I'm sorry. It didn't come to me until after the Maj. Lorne incident."

"Isn't because of insidents like this, the reason why you are here?" Col. Carter asks.

"Yeah," Dara just replies as she rubs her forehead.

"She's been busy," John says as he tries to defend her, since she wasn't doing it.

"Doing what?" Rodney asked across the room, standing against the wall.

"Will you sit down," John says.

"I'm fine right here," Rodney replies. "Again, doing what?"

"Look, she's been going over everything she can get a hold of. She's trying to see if there is something she missed with Teyla. Okay."

"Is that true?" Col. Carter asks as she looks over at Dara.

"Yeah."

"It's just a few bad dreams," Ronon says. "What is there to worry about?"

"Expect for the fact it'll start killing," Kimberley replied. In that instant her face gets this look of horror.

"Don't worry," Dara says. "I told Dr. Heightmeyer. She's not going to go to sleep. Just to be on the safe side, I asked Maj. Way to keep an eye on her."

"How is Maj. Lorne doing?" Col. Carter asks Jennifer.

"He's fine. He's currently awake. He said that he used to have sleep walking incidents when he was younger. Nothing recent or this bad, until now."

"So, how do we find this creature?" Col. Carter now asked out toward the whole room.

Kimberley looked over at Dara and noticed she wasn't going to say anything. "We go back to the planet. Get the 'dead' crystal and a live one."

"Why on earth would we get a live one?" Rodney exclaimed.

"So, we can read the energy signature, so we can calibrate the city sensors." Everyone seemed to stare and blink at her. "What?"

"Where did that come from?" John asks.

Dara stands up in a huff. "She does come up with good ideas. You just have to know when to pay attention." With that, she quickly leaves the room.

* * *

Radek Zelenka starred at the portable life signs detector. Earlier that day, he joined John's team and got the dead and living crystals. Once they had brought back the crystals, he began to study them. It wasn't until hours later that he was able to get the exact energy signature he needed. Quickly he made his way to the command center and went to the city sensors console. With quick and exact movements, he recalibrate the sensors to look for the creature. After a few minutes the creature popped up the city map. Radek runs over to Col. Carter's office door. Knocking on the frame, he gets her attention. "Col. Carter, I think I found it."

"Where?" she asks as she followed him out towards the map of the city.

"There," he replies as he points to the glowing spot.

"Do we know who that is?"

"Hold on as I pull up the number list."

* * *

"Okay, what do you need me for?" Rodney asked as he walked into the room. Radek does a quick scan of Rodney with the Portable Life Signs detector. Rodney didn't even notice as he looked around the room. "What's with the rubber walls?"

Once Radek confirmed that Rodney had the creature, he nodded his head towards the group at the observation deck. Looking back at Rodney, he says, "I'm sorry, Rodney."

"Wait. Where are you going?" At that moment he happened to look up and notice to group staring down at him. Radek walked out of the the room listening to Rodney saying, "You've got to be kidding me."

* * *

"There has to be a way to save him," John says as he looks at Col. Carter as Ronon starred at him.

"There is," Dara says as she and Kimberley walked in. Dara looks over at Col. Carter. "Sorry about my attitude earlier, Sam."

"That's not a problem."

"You were saying?" John asks, trying to get her back on track.

"Yes, sorry. There is a way to save him. All we have to do is hook him up the VR Trainer that the SGC uses."

Sam gives Kimberley and Dara a look, then leaves the room. "What just happened?" Ronon asked.

Dara quickly follows after Col. Carter as Kimberley followed after her. "Dara, you know what happens to Rodney, right?"

"Yeah, whale," Dara replies as she and Kimberley stepped out of the room.

"What?" Ronon asked again.

"I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to find out," John says as he follows after them.

"What?"

* * *

Both John and Rodney laid on their own personal beds as Dr. Keller, her team, and Dr. Zelenka moved around them in Hazmat Suits. "Are you sure about this?" Rodney asked over towards John.

"Yes, Rodney. I'm sure. Stop asking or I will back out."

"I'm just saying. I'm pretty messed up."

"I know."

"Okay, I'm going to give you a sedative," Jennifer says to Rodney. "Once your under, John should be there to help you."

"Okay," Rodney quietly says.

Jennifer moves over to the IV drip and puts the sedative in. Rodney's eyes slowly close and John looks over at him. "Nothing is happening."

"He's not dreaming, yet," Jennifer replied.

* * *

Rodney sat in the row boat, trying to paddle towards Atlantis. He shivered as the cold rain beats against him. "Give up. You're not going to make it." John said across from him.

"Oh, yeah. Aren't you suppose to be helpping me?"

"Now why would I want to do that?" John asked.

"Don't listen to him, Rodney," John behind him says. "That's not me. That's him."

"If it was really you, you should be helping me." Instantly, John was next to him, helping him row.

"You're going to die out here," the Evil John says.

"Shut up!" John yells at him. Glancing over at Rodney, he says, "You know, this doesn't seem as weird as you led me to believe."

"Oh, yeah. What about that?" Rodney asked as he points back behind him.

John looks behind him and notices a frowning clown behind him. Turning back towards Rodney, he says, "I hate clowns."

"You should just give up. You're never going to make it," Evil John says with a smirk.

"He's right," Rodney says. "I've never made it before."

"This is no time to start thinking like that, Rodney."

"But it's true!" Then without any warning a whale comes flying up and out of the water and shallows the boat whole.

* * *

John jerks up from the bed and looks over at Rodney. He watched as Dr. Keller and her team moved around him in a fast rush. He could hear the heart monitor screaming the flat line as Radek grab the air pump and puts it over Rodney's mouth and nose. Quickly he starts to pump the air pump as Jennifer did the chest compressions. After a few minutes she grabs the Defibrillator and shocks him a couple of times before she stops. "I'm sorry. I can't do anymore for him. We lost him."

Once John was unhooked from the machine, he left the room and slowly walked through the corridors. He felt numb, from head to toe. He couldn't believe that he couldn't save Rodney.

Out of no where, Jennifer walks up to him. "It's your fault we couldn't save him."

Ronon came up next and says, "I thought you were going to save him."

Kimberley comes up with tears in her eyes. "Why did you kill him? Did you want too? Just like you want to kill me?"

"What? No! I didn't want to kill him or you! Sure, I'm a little rough on you guys, but that's only because I like you and I don't want anything like that happening to you!"

Turning around, he sees Dara standing there with her eyes narrowed dangerously. "There is something wrong with you."

"What?"

"You've been compromised, Colonel. I'm taking you off active duty," Col. Carter says.

It was then, John seen his evil self standing the wall. "Son of a bitch," he mumbles, before he goes running and slamming into his evil self. Some how they went through the wall and ended up in the Stargate's room. After rolling around for a little bit, they both get up. Before John could make a move towards the Evil John, the Evil John takes a swing at him. Not expecting the blow, John was more surprised by the fact he went flying across the room.

When he finally came too, he noticed that his evil self was standing out on the balconey. John got up as fast as possiable. He quickly runs to the door. When it opens, he sees his evil self holding Rodney over the balconey rail. "I couldn't really kill him. Not yet, anyways," the Evil John says as he glances over at John. "Why kill him, unless I can get the both of you at once. Killing him and you realising it was your fault all along."

"Don't do it," John says, trying to distract him, to give himself time to think.

"I think I will," Evil John says just as he let Rodney go.

For that split second, John could see the look of fear in Rodney's eyes, just before he fell. "RODNEY!" he screamed as he ran towards the edge.

"Don't worry about him," Evil John said as he grabbed his shoulder. "You have me to deal with." With that, Evil John threw him through the window, into the Gate Room.

* * *

"We've got a problem. We've managed to save Rodney, but the creature is now Col. Sheppard," Dr. Keller said.

Radek looks up at the observation deck towards Dara. "Somehow, it's affecting the both of them."

Dara stares down at them and blinks. Then without any warning, she turns on her heel and leaves. "What was that about?" Col. Carter asks Kimberley.

Still starring at the door, she shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. She's been in one of those moods lately, so she's harder to read."

* * *

John slowly gets up and noticed that his evil self was making his way towards him. He didn't know how, but somehow he had to go and save Rodney, before he hits the ground. Looking around for an exit, he takes off towards one set of doors, to escape. Before he could even reach them, his evil self lands right in front of him. Stepping towards him, he gives off an evil smile. Pulling his fist back, he swings it forward and lands it right on John's chin. John could feel himself flying through the air before he slammed into the wall behind him. Sliding down to the floor, he gets back up and shakes his head clear. Figuring the only way to get a second to save Rodney was to knock his evil self out really quick. With no other opinion, he runs towards his evil self, preparing to fist fight him.

* * *

Knowing what she had to do, Dara stuns the Marines and barges into the room. "Hook me up!"

"What?" Jennifer asks as she turns around to see Dara standing there. "Dara, you just broke the quarantine."

"Yeah, I know. You have to hook me up though."

"Why?" Radek asks.

"Because something is wrong. The creature is in John now, yes?" Both Jennifer and Radek nodded towards her. "Well, in the episode, Rodney wakes up right away when you revived him. He didn't this time. Something is wrong and I need to get in there and fix it."

"How do we know that it won't affect you?" Radek asked.

As Dara sat down on the floor next to John's bed, she calmly says, "Nothing to fear, but fear itself."

Jennifer and Radek just look at each other and shrug their shoulders. Soon the both of them were hooking Dara up as fast as they could go. When they were done, Radek stops next to the machine. "Are you sure on this?"

"Yes. Also, if none of us wakes up in about five minutes, send an electric shock through the person the creature is in."

"Why?" Jennifer asks.

"Just trust me on this." Now looking over at Radek she nods her head. "Throw the switch."

* * *

Dara appeared on a balcony as Evil John threw John through the window. She goes to take a step towards the window when she hears Rodney screaming for help. Running over to the railing, she sees him hanging on to the bottom of the balconey, one story down. "Help! I can't hang on much longer!" Rodney called up.

"Hang on Rodney! I'm coming!" she calls down to him.

"Dara?" he asked before he slips and starts to fall.

Not even thinking, Dara backs up and runs towards the railing. Jumping up at the last second, her foot spring boards her off the of the railing and into the air. As her body began to fall, she straightens up and points herself downward, like a bullet.

* * *

John slams into the ground for the what the seemed like the millionth time. He was tired, worn, and beaten. He was pretty sure that it was to late for Rodney now too. "Come on, John. FIGHT!" his evil self yelled.

"Why? That's what you want anyways."

"It's your fault that Rodney is dead."

"There is no point in fighting you now."

"If I would have known you would have rolled over this easy," Evil John says as he picks John up and holds him over his head. "I would have done more to your little girlfriend, than give her a little scare."

"LET GO OF MY BOYFRIEND!"

John had about a second of registering what was said, before he hit the ground. Groaning, he rolls over and sees Rodney running towards him. Rodney grabs John's hand and helps him up. "Are you okay?"

"I thought you were thrown over the side!"

"Yeah. Managed to grab a lower balcony, then Dara showed up and saved me there."

"How?" John happens to look over at Dara and Evil John as they traded blows. He had to rub his eyes and do a double take. "Are those-"

"Angel wings. Yes. I was expecting more of the Devil horns and tail kind of thing with her."

"Hey! She did save your life!"

"I know and I did thank her for that."

About that time Dara came sliding backwards towards them. She had been hit and she was trying to slow her speed. Once she stopped, John grabs her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Dara turns and gives him this funny look. "Trying to save your life and beat the Nightmare creature. What does it look like?"

"You can't stop me," Evil John laughs.

"You wanna bet!" Dara yells back at him before she takes off running towards him. Evil John easily throws her up in the air. Instantly she corrects herself and points her palm towards him. After a minute he starts to laugh at her.

"Your magic doesn't work here."

"Figures! I had to use a weaker dream aspect." Then without any warning, she crashes to the ground. Groaning she picks up her head and shakes it. "That was sooner than excepted."

John runs over to her side and helps her now normal form up. "What happened?"

"That," she calmly replies as she points over towards the creature that was now falling to his knees as arcs of electricity flew around him.

"Of coarse!" Rodney exclaimed. "He is vulnerable to electric shock."

"Yeah, but it's doing a major ouch to me," Dara growled out as she held her stomach.

"Okay, that's it!" John runs over and grabs his evil self. Soon the two of them were spinning around until one John threw the other John into the event horizon of the active Stargate.

As the John stood there, Rodney takes a step towards him. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Which you?"

"Me, me." John then gives Rodney a funny look.

"Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks guys! I'm fine," Dara commented from the floor.

"Dara!" John runs over to her side and lightly touches her on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I think they knew the creature was out. Not getting shocked anymore."

"So, ummm, whose mind are we in?" Rodney asked as he looked around.

Dara stands up to her full height. "Mine. At least by the shock treatment, I would guess. Which is a good thing. I don't think I could do half the things I did, if we weren't."

"I was expecting more of a, uhhhh..."

"What?" Dara demanded.

"Darker thoughts."

Dara just rolls her eyes towards him. "It's a common setting that is to help bridge the gap between three minds." Dara happened to look over and catch John smiling at her. "What?"

"You had angel wings."

"Yeah, I like to fly in my dreams. Don't knock it. It helped Rodney out."

It was then his smile got a little bigger then. "You also called me your boyfriend."

Dara opened her mouth to say something, when Rodney interrupted, "Yeah I heard that too. That was totally out of no where!" Dara just closes her mouth, smiles, and shakes her head.

* * *

John woke up and looked over at the bed that held Rodney. He was just waking up himself as he looked over at John. "Welcome back you three," Radek said as he started to unplug the machine. John was worried for a second on where Dara was, when he felt her hand, grab on to his left hand. Turning his head over, he looks down at her as her head was still down, but he could see her smile on her face.

"Unbelievable," Jennifer commented.

"What?" Rodney asked as he tried to look over John to see what Jennifer was looking at.

"After all that, Dara is still asleep."

John just smiles as he lays his head back down and rubs the back of her fingers with his thumb. "Yeah, she does like her sleep."

* * *

Dara had her head leaned against John's shoulder as he read her small book of AEsop's fables. "So, the whole forest lit up with those crystals?" she asked.

"Yeah," John comments as he nods his head. "I'm glad we got those things back. I don't think I could handle another one of those things."

"Agreed," Dara said.

"Heya," Kimberley said as she came up to the mess hall table that Dara and John sat at.

"Couldn't sleep?" John asked. Kimberley nods her head towards him.

"Yeah, she won't be able to sleep for about a week," Dara said.

"HEY! You weren't suppose to tell anyone about that!"

"Sorry," Dara said with a yawn.

"Jeez Oh! You're tired after all that?"

Dara gives off a small smile. "Yup. I love my sleep."

It was then that the sight before Kimberley clicked. A devious smile appears on her face. "So, are you guys official?"

"What?" Dara asked as she looked over at Kimberley.

"I did hear Rodney talking about what happened in the dream."

John says really quietly so Kimberley couldn't hear, "We can deny what Rodney says."

Dara just lightly shakes her head. "Nah, I like the sound of it."

"I guess it's official. Her majesty approves," John comments towards Kimberley. He did flinch a little when Dara lightly punches him in the stomach.

About that time, Rodney comes up with a tray fully loaded with food. "I thought I would get a light snack before-"

"We couldn't sleep either, Rodney," John says.

"Hmmmm..."

After a minute or two, Carson, Col. Carter, Jennifer, and Ronon trickled in and joined the group. Soon they were discussing many points of conversation about different things when Kimberley finally had to ask the one on her mind. "So, what is going to happen to Heightmeyer?"

Sam makes a face towards her. "Should I ask why you are asking?"

"In the episode, she died," Dara commented.

"Well, she's alive. Thanks to you two," Ronon says.

Sam sighes. "Well, she did just put in her transfere papers. I guess she couldn't handle the idea that she was suppose to die."

"So, who is taking over?" Rodney asks as he pops a grape in his mouth.

"In a few days, Dr. Melvin Baxter will be the new head."

Rodney just snorts and mutters something about New British Quack.

Kimberley watched as everyone continued to enteract and couldn't help but to smile. Sure, they still needed to find Teyla and Dara was probably still beating herself up about how it was her fault, even though Kimberley knew it was all her fault. Somewhere in the back of her mind though, she knew they did good. They may not have won the war, but they won a battle. Kimberley knew if anyone could get them out of the mess she made, it would be Dara.


	34. Psyke Evaluations

Doctor Melvin Baxter glanced round his new office, the one of which used to belong to Doctor Katie Heightmyer, who suffered from a traumatic breakdown at the face of her imminent death.

'No, not imminent death.' Baxter thought to himself as he placed his diploma in its frame above her desk. 'Her brush with alternate realities has made her question everything that she held close in relation to making sense of the world using simple psychology.'

Briefly, he wondered how her ride back to the Milky Way galaxy was going before he spotted a note on his laptop.

'Doctor Baxter, can you do an evaluation of everyone involved in the recent 'nightmare alien' and evaluate team one with the loss of Teyla Emmagon, and get back to me as soon as possible. S. Carter.' Baxter read, and then groaned to himself. "You finally made it Mel. Yay."  
o0o  
Kimberley paused as she entered the mess hall, looking around for her friends. She smiled to herself as she spotted them sitting at two tables pushed together, a large amount of food in between them all.

"Hullo Kimberley." Carson smiled and moved to push a chair out for her.

"Hey Carson." She grinned to them. "What chu up to?"

"Just talking." Carson spoke to her as she sat down.

She nodded, and then frowned. "Hey Ronon?"

"Yeah?" He replied, looking at her over his glass of juice.

"A few weeks ago you said that you wanted to make sure evil Sheppard wasn't back." She looked at him. "Why?"

"Evil Sheppard?" John looked at Ronon and raised an eyebrow. "You getting premonitions buddy?"

Ronon shook his head.

"Are you going to tell us about it son?" Carson asked.

Ronon just leveled him with a glare.

"Sorry." Kimberley whispered to Ronon, who crossed his arms over his chest and glared at nothing.

At that time, Sam entered the room and looked at them all. "Hi everyone, how are you?"

They mumbled hellos and nodded to her.

Sam raised an eyebrow.

Dara glanced up from the transcripts she was looking at and spotted Sam. "Hey Col. Carter."

Sam frowned at her. "Dara. Any further forward with any information?"

"No." Dara sighed and threw the color-coded transcripts onto the table with a vengeance. "We have no clue where Michael may be hiding, what his plans may be - we have no clue what he is doing to Teyla, what he has already done-"

Dara paused as Kimberley stood from the table and rushed off, not bothering to get anything to eat or say good-bye to anyone. She could feel her anger burning and building once more as she gripped her hands tightly.

"Dara?" Carson asked, moving to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Doc." John called out and shook his head.

Carson looked to him, then Dara, and slowly retracted his hand.

"Was there something you needed Col?" John asked, keeping one eye on his girlfriend.

"I've given Doctor Baxter a few days to get used to his office, and now I want him to meet everyone that has recently been involved in a mission that has gone FUBAR." Sam explained. "That includes everyone at this table. I am pulling your team from mission schedule until you have all seen Baxter and he declares you all okay."

Rodney and Ronon began to argue when Sam simply glared at them. "This is not a request. If you don't follow my order, you will be shipped back to earth, or simply left to deal with paper work."

The men looked to one another horrified before Dara stood up and gathered her transcripts. "I'll be in my office."

Rodney stared after her. "Dara has an office? Why does Dara have an office?"

Sam nodded. "It's to help her focus more, as well as keep any information she is sharing with us secure."

"Why does Kimburley no have her ain office?" Carson asked.

Ronon snorted. "That girl can't do quiet, never mind secure."

"True." Carson nodded and everyone shared a secret smile.  
o0o  
Brent nodded to Kimberley as she passed him sitting outside Baxter's new office. "Hey Kimbo, what are you up to?"

"Nothing just, going for a walk, clearing my head, the usual." She replied, looking around and scratched her arm. "Desk duty again?"

"What can I say? Doctor Keller didn't like my last head bump." Cole responded.

Kimberley looked at him incredulously. "You fell fifty feet into a rocky gorge."

"Yeah well..."

"You're lucky to be alive!" Kimberley screeched.

"You dames all think the worst." Brent shook his head.

Kimberley looked at him.

"What?" He was beginning to get worried.

"I dunno but..." Kimberley bit her lip before shrugging. "I think if Dara was here she would be giving you another head lump."

Brent looked apologetic before glancing at the notes in his hands. "Hey Kimbo, you're supposed to meet with the doc soon."

'What is it with the men in here and calling Doctors Doc?' She asked herself then nodded, walking over to the head of psychologist's door and knocked.  
o0o  
"Come in." Melvin called out after folding his hands on top of the tabletop, smiling and nodding to Kimberley as she entered the room. "Miss Boyce. How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you doing?" She asked, moving to sit down on the Freud chair.

"I am fine." He nodded.

"Really?" Kimberley asked, crossing her legs at her ankles and blinked at him.

"Yes. Why?" Melvin was curious.

"I know when Jennifer took over from Carson af-after he died the first time, she was freaked the fudge out." Kimberley casually replied, looking around the room with interest.

"I don't see how that applies to me." He responded.

Kimberley shrugged. "Never mind."

Melvin watched her mutter to herself before settling down and staring at the pattern on the couch. "No, go on; what were you going to say?"

She bit her lip before opening her mouth, and then closed it. She spoke slowly. "Promise not to get too mad?"

Baxter nodded.

She took a breath. "Well, you got this job because Heightmyer left and no one else was here or was both here and qualified. No one has said anything about a new psychologist coming to Atlantis so everyone is pretty much stuck with you. You now have about 300 personnel to analyze, evaluate and figure out as soon as possible before people start snapping and maybe killing each other. You need to learn what makes them tick, what ticks them off, and how to avoid it. You also need to figure out if you really did get this job for being you, or for your qualifications."

Baxter sat in silence for a moment, and then sat back.

"I also know that each psychiatrist should have a psychiatrist, and you don't have anyone." Kimberley continued. "And any psychiatrist that comes with the Daedalus, you know what they are going to be going through, and they think they'll know what you've been through, but then again you don't want them to be as successful as you because then you might get replaced so you will subconsciously sabotage them."  
o0o  
Brent looked up as Kimberley left Baxter's office. He noticed her distracted look and frowned, standing up to place a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped.

"Jeez, you okay?" He asked.

She looked at him then nodded. "Uh yeah, fine."

"Do I need to beat up the doc?" He asked, already moving to walk in.

"No!" Kimberley yelled, and then paused with a silly grin on her face. "But thanks. Everything's fine. Don't worry Brent."

"You sure?" He asked again, and watched her slowly nod before she left.

Brent glanced in the direction of the closed office and frowned before sitting back on the chair, ignoring the Wraith in mini skirts that were playing tag in the corridor.  
o0o  
Sam nodded to Baxter as he entered the room with a large stack of files in his hands. "Doctor Baxter, how goes the evaluations?"

"Exhaustingly." Brent replied and placed the files down on Sam's desk. "I have evaluated Miss Boyce, Specialist Dex, Col. Sheppard, Doctors McKay, Beckett and Keller. I just finished evaluating Miss Baldwin."

"How did that go? Is there something we need to know?" Sam asked, beginning to sift through the papers. "Are there any major weaknesses or psychological problems that they have?"

He thought of Kimberley._ Of the way she continued to babble, allowing her fears to push through her caring and slightly demented personality._

He thought of Ronon, _and the fact that he had to interview the alien in the infirmary after the man had taken a knock to the head by a newbie from Earth. Of how Ronon had been pushing himself further and further to be better, faster, stronger, the best of the best, knowing that there was nothing he could do for now for Teyla, of how he knew Ronon didn't want to lose another woman that he cared for._

He thought of John,_ of how he had found him in the Missing In Action hallway, debating weather or not to add Teylas name to the list. Of how the military man was beating himself up, how he hadn't eat or slept properly the last five days. Of how even knowing that Teyla does return is killing him, even more so with the thoughts of his friend that didn't make it in Afghanistan, even with all the training, all the equipment, all the back up._

He thought of Rodney, _who was throwing himself more and more into his work, who snapped at everyone that came near him. He had refused to let Jennifer entered his office, and had thrown a hissy fit when Kimberley entered, growing more and more angry with the tray of food in her hands and threw it against the wall. Rodney continued to glare at nothing as he tried to fix the long range sensors, ignoring Kimberley as she picked up the hot chicken salad meal from the floor._

He thought of Carson _who was beside himself with worry, sleeping even less, working more and more by himself. He had to track the cloned man down to his office, but had postponed the evaluation to the next day as he found the man asleep on his chair, a blanket around his shoulders. The next day he had found the man just as taxed, just as stressed, and just as self destructive as he had been the previous few days._

He thought of Jennifer _and how she was trying to keep the medical department together, keep Rodney from killing himself and others, and keep Ronon in one piece._

Then he thought of Dara. _His mind slowed as he remembered how he found her in her office. How she had dark circles under her eyes, her clothes were beginning to hang off of her and she was muttering to herself, not noticing him. He remembered hearing a sound clip from one of the episodes playing as she made notes on a white board. He remembered noting Kanaan walking past with Torren in his arms._

_He remembered Torren crying 'momma' as Teyla spoke._

_He remembered Daras head falling into her arms as her body shook with tears, quiet sobs filling the room as he walked away slowly._

Then he shook his head. "Col. Carter, each individual has their own drawbacks and their hang ups affect them in little ways, but these are what make us, for lack of a better collective term, human. These weaknesses are not so great that they are going to get someone killed, unless they are allowed to fester."

"Do you think that they will? Fester I mean?" Sam asked, finishing flipping through the files and looked at him.

Baxter thought of the group as a whole and shook his head. "There are two main concerns, specifically Miss Baldwin and Col. Sheppard, but as long as they are not allowed to go so deep within themselves and their funkages that they are unable to positively function."

'Funkages?' "That a technical term?" Sam smiled.

Baxter nodded. "In some circles, yes."


	35. How to Save a Life

"Well, sir?" Maj. Lorne asked as he watched Col. Sheppard walk up.

"Genii contact failed to show up," John replies.

"I'm not surprised."

"They have some very useful connections, so it doesn't hurt to see what they come up with."

"I know, sir. To tell the truth, I trust Dara and Kimberley over them any day."

"I know. You know that even Dara has hit a wall with knowledge." John looked back over in the direction he came from. "I'm a little hungry. I'm going back to Atlantis, get a sandwich, and decide from there. You and your team will stay here and see if the contact will show up. If he does, dial Atlantis and let me know."

Maj. Lorne nods towards Col. Sheppard. "Yes, sir."

* * *

John stepped through the Stargate and looked around the empty Gate Room. "Hello? Did someone turn up the heat?" As he walked further in, he could hear his own foot steps echoing off the walls. "If this a surprise party, it's not my birthday!" Finally wondering what the red light was coming from the windows, he goes to the nearest door and looks at it. He was surprised by the fact that it didn't open in his presence. Thinking something was wrong, he puts his hands on the door and slowly pushes it open.

Stepping out, he was surprised what was in front of him. There was no ocean, at all. All that was there was desert and the sand covered most of the lower piers. Not liking where his thoughts were going, he presses his ear piece as he went back in. "This is Col. Sheppard. Is anyone there?" Making his way towards the stairs that lead up towards the Command center he tries one more time. "This is Sheppard! Is anyone there at all?"

When he reached the Command Center, he gave up on the ear piece. Going over to the first console he swipes his hands over it to get it to respond. When it didn't he quickly moved on to the next one. Soon he continued on, the whole time muttering, "This is some really good practical joke or I'm in really big trouble."

Finally coming to the last one and nothing still coming on, he began to worry. It was then his ear piece began to garble a little. Quickly he presses it and says, "This is Col. Sheppard. Is anyone on this frequency?"

"Sheppard?" Rodney's voice seems to ask. "I can't believe it! It worked!"

"What worked? What are you talking about?"

"Quick, where are you and what do you see?"

John frowns at the question and decides to go with it. "I'm in the Control Room. Nothing is coming on. Where is the ocean, by the way?"

"What?"

"The ocean! The big blue thing!"

"Hmmm," Rodney seemed to reply. "Come to the Hologram Room."

"Why?"

"Just do it. I'll explain it when you get there."

"Okay."

* * *

John entered the Hologram room and looked around. "Okay, I'm here Rodney. Now what?"

"Activate the Hologram."

"The whole city is dead because there is no power."

"The room is connected to an independent power source. Trust me when I say, it will come on."

Sighing, John goes over to the console and slowly waved his hand over it. The lights come up and he hears Rodney right behind him saying, "Hello."

Spinning around really fast, he points his gun towards the now older Rodney. "What happened?"

"Quite a lot actually."

"Yeah, I'm betting," John replies as he waves his hand through Rodney.

"Man, you look good."

"You look a lot different from what I remember seeing," John says.

"A lot of time has passed. I keep forgetting that it's only been about five minutes since the last time you saw me."

"Yeah, last time I checked."

"Now don't be surprised, but it's been a lot longer since I saw you last."

"What happened."

"You remember that SG-1 report where SG-1's wormhole was intersected with a solar flare and they were thrown in 1969?"

"Yeah. Are you saying that I was thrown in the past?"

Rodney kind of bows his head a little. "Not exactly. You were thrown into the future."

"How far?"

"I can't say exactly."

"HOW FAR?"

"About 48,000 years into the the future, give or take."

John clenches his teeth and growls out, "Are you telling me I was sent 48,000 years into the future in that 10 seconds it took me to go through the gate?"

"It's kind of cool, if you think about it."

"No. Surfing a 30 foot wave is cool. Dating a Super Model is cool. This is not cool!"

"Simmer down, young man." Once he was sure that John had calmed down enough, he nodded. "Right, come on. We have much to do and little time to do it."

"What are you talking about?"

Rodney started to walk in one direction. "If we want to get you back we have to put you in the stasis pod."

John quickly followed after him. "In order to send me back you have to put me on ice. How long?"

"About 700, 800 years."

"You want to put me in the stasis pod for 800 years?"

"A thousand tops. Look. I wouldn't do it if it wasn't for they fact that I have to get you back not to long after you disappear."

"Why is that?" John asks.

"Because you have to save Teyla."

"We will, but it doesn't exactly answer why?"

"That's the whole turning point. For everything."

* * *

_Ronon goes running towards the doorway and points his gun into room. Dara and Maj. Lorne ran up behind him. Rodney finally comes up behind them and enters the room when Ronon gives the go ahead. Rodney stops short at the sight of Teyla's body. Dara looks in and lowers her weapon._

* * *

"It wasn't long after that, when Michael stepped up his plans," Rodney says. Looking over he sees John deep in thought. "Trust me when I say, the Michael you knew, was a kitten compared to the Michael that started his plans after you were gone."

"You can't tell me, that we took that lying down. Col. Carter would have fought him on that!"

"She did. Pretty well, I might add."

* * *

_"So, what do you think?" Col. Carter asked as she indicated to the half finished ship._

_"Looks like you should have demanded more of a finished ship," Rodney replies back._

_"Come on Rodney. I was lucky that they gave me this one."_

_"I would still complain, if I was you."_

_"You're not. So, are you going to help me?"_

_Rodney sighs and looks at her. "Yeah, I guess."_

_Soon, Rodney, Radek, and Sam began to work on the ship. Taking weeks, they had finally gotten it around to putting it all together and in working order._

_"Thanks, Rodney!" Sam says with a smile._

_"You're welcome," he mumbles back._

_"Now get yourself and your team back to Atlantis and take a few days off. Once you're done with that, try to find a way to increase shield strength."_

_"What about you? You're just as tired as the rest of us."_

_"I can't. I have to take her out and try and stop Michael."_

_"Alright," Rodney says as he turns around to leave._

_"Hey, Rodney!" He stops and looks over at Sam. "Well?"_

_"Good luck?"_

_Sam smiles and gives Rodney a hug. "Thanks."_

_Once Rodney and his team beamed out, Sam takes the Phoenix out and starts to do a bunch of hit and run attacks. Finally Michael gets the upper hand by "leaking" some false Intel. As her Sam's ship went critical, she maneuvers the ship to do a Kamikaze run into the nearest Hive ship. As the Phoenix and the Hive ship explodes, the shock wave expands outward, taking out the other two Hive Ships._

* * *

"And we buried another empty coffin," Rodney said.

John watched Rodney as he was somber for a moment. When out of no where, Rodney stopped and John not paying attention, he walk right through him. It was then John knew why Rodney stopped. In the hall in front of him, it was full of sand. "That's not good," Rodney says.

"What?"

"This corridor and all the lower levels are filled with sand. There is no way to get to the stasis pod."

"What about going up and around?"

"What?" Rodney asks.

"Go up a couple of levels and walk across the sand, then go down."

"That just might work. Give me a minute to see what we are working with."

John just nods as Rodney disappears. Not more than a second later he appeared back. "That is not good."

"What's not good?"

"There is a sand storm going on. It's really dangerous."

"That's not problem. I've been in a sand storm."

Rodney blinks for a second then looks at John. "That's what she meant."

"What?"

"Dara," Rodney replied. "That's what she meant."

"What did she meant?"

"She left a video for you. You know how she can be mysterious. Well, I had a watch and she said a couple of things that confused me at the time."

"She left a video for me?"

"Yeah, would you like me to play it?"

"You can do that?"

Rodney very lightly nods towards John. "Yeah. It's not a probably. I up loaded into my computer banks. Figured it would be useful, being Dara and all."

"Wait! Before I see it... Maybe you should tell me what happened to her."

A sad look passes across Rodney's face. "Are you sure on that. I don't think you will like what happens to her."

"Just tell me, Rodney."

* * *

_Rodney walks into the infirmary and stops at the sight of Dara standing there talking with Jennifer. "Hey, I thought you said this wasn't your war," Rodney states._

_Dara smiles at Rodney and shakes her head. "Sorry. Had to say it to get Kimberley home. I wanted to help out, but I was afraid if something happened I didn't want her abandoned here."_

_"That's nice to know," Rodney replies._

_"Rodney!" Jennifer exclaims._

_"What?"_

_"Be nice. She was kind enough to bring some medical supplies."_

_"What kind?"_

_"Nothing major," Dara replies. "Just stuff like rubbing alcohol and bandages. The minor stuff you get a store."_

_"How is that helping?"_

_Dara rolls her eyes as she sighs. "I figured the less 'money' put towards that stuff the more can be put towards the more important stuff."_

_"Smart thinking." Rodney stops and stares at the two women. "So, how are you going to help?"_

_"I've already talked with Maj. Lorne. I am to escort Dr. Keller and her team here to infected worlds."_

_Weeks later, Dr. Keller came running through the Gate with her team. Rodney comes running down the stairs and looks at her. "What happened?"_

_"Michael made us. He knew we were there. He tried to stop us. Dara told us to make a run for it. She said she would cover us."_

_Soon Maj. Lorne got a team around and a Puddle Jumper. When they were finally able to make a connection hours later, they found her Puddle Jumper wreckage in high orbit._

* * *

After a minute or two, Rodney sighs at the slightly sadden John. "I know it's kind of tough for you, especially since you liked her. I'm really sorry. I didn't want to tell you if I didn't have too."

John stands there for a second, trying to handle the emotional trauma. "You said she left a video?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to play it now?"

John nods towards him. "If you don't mind."

Rodney's image flickers for a moment, then replaced with Dara's smiling one. John reaches a hand towards her. Until he remembers that she was a recorded message in the shape of a hologram.

"Hey, John. If you're seeing this, it's probably because I'm dead and you're not back in the right time frame. I recorded this message in order to help Rodney out. As I'm sure you can guess, my knowledge is quite large when it comes to Atlantis. At least more so than I let on. Imagine my surprise when I found myself on this side of the time line. Now this recording was only suppose to be for you, but I'm sure Rodney found it and watched it. Anyways, Rodney don't let him go out in the storm, you hear me. I do have a way for you to get around. Use the crystal. Also, Save the Cheerleader, save the world."

Dara's image flickers away and Rodney was soon standing there in the place. "That was it. While I was playing the message, I was doing scans outside of the city and I found out why the ocean was gone."

"Why?" John asked as he turned and headed for a room he knew would hold something that would help him.

"Where are you going?"

"Dara's room."

"Why are you going there?"

"She told me to use the crystal and she didn't want me to go through the storm. So, are you going to tell me why the ocean is gone or are you going to keep it a secret?"

"The sun is dying."

John stops and turns towards Rodney. "Shouldn't it be colder then?"

"No. As the sun dies, it consumes the heavier elements and it expands. Which means it'll be a big problem for you."

"Why?"

Rodney looks at him like he couldn't believe he asked that. "In a few hundred years the sun is going to burn off the atmosphere. That's why! As soon as you step out of the statisis pod you're going to die."

"What about the indepent generator?"

"I don't think it'll have enough power to run my system, the shields, and the stasis pod."

"Doesn't Atlantis have solar panels?"

"Yes and they are only good for powering up a couple of golf carts!"

"See! You're thinking like the old McKay," John says as he begins to walk towards Dara's room again. "More powerful sun, means more power going through the solar panels."

"That just might work!"

"I'm sure it will." When he finally reached the door he was looking for, he stops and swipes his hand over the crystals. When nothing happened, he looked over at Rodney.

"What? Oh, yes, sorry. There better be something there." Rodney half waved towards the door, causing it to open.

As John steps into the room and looks around. "We're looking for a crystal."

"That could be anything," Rodney says as he stands in the room.

John's eyes sweep around the room, they land on Dara's old DVD collection. Starring at them, an idea struck him. Quickly he goes over to the and scans them over. He grabs one of the box sets and smiles. "Save the Cheerleader, save the world."

Rodney turns and looks at John. "What does that mean?"

"It was Dara's way of giving me a double hint."

"Meaning?"

"Look at her season one of Heroes." Pulling out the DVDs he tosses them to the side and tilts the box over a little, letting a small pendent like crystal to fall into his hand.

"The other meaning?" Rodney had to ask.

"Trust your plan. Change one event, you can change a whole lot of events at once." Holding up the crystal, he noticed a note attached to it. Taking the rubber band off, he unrolls the note and reads, _Throw it at the sand._

"What does it say?" Rodney asks.

"Come on," John responds. Not even waiting for Rodney, he quickly leaves the room and takes off running to the corridor. Finally when he reached the corridor that him and Rodney were originally in, he looks at the pendent. Without even thinking about it, he chucks it with all his might into the sand. Standing there, he watched as it slowly sank into the sand. After a minute or two, the sand slowly disappeared, leaving a type of tunnel with crystal like wall. John goes over and lightly touches the wall.

Rodney comes up behind him and seems to stare at the wall. "I can't believe it! It's a Tok'ra Crystal Tunnel! You better get going. I can't go with you, but I can meet on the other side."

John smiles and nods. "I'll meet you over there." As Rodney disappears, John makes his way into the tunnel. "Rodney, tell me about Ronon?"

"Now?"

"Yeah, now. I'm not going to have much time to hear anything after I get in the stasis chamber, now am I?"

"Well, okay."

* * *

_Ronon didn't feel like he fit in anymore. Especially after the fact that John, Teyla, and Dara weren't with them anymore. When he left, he had managed to convince Col. Carter to give him some C4 and some P90s. He had started up a small nice fighting force with the local residents in the galaxy. He had managed to get some good Intel on a factory where Michael made his hybrids._

_Soon him and his group were making their way through the factory to one of the core parts that would blow it up. Hearing a noise at one of the corridors, he sweeps his gun towards the noise, only to have it pointing at Todd. As Todd kept his stunner pointed Ronon, he slowly crept more into the room. "I should asked what are you doing here?" Todd comments._

_"Came to blow this place up," Ronon replies back._

_"Naturally. I was planning on writing a code into his computer system that would slowly cause a fatal flaw, but your way seems much quicker."_

_"Yup," Ronon casually comments. Ronon signals for his men to leave, to help cover their exits. Soon Todd and him made their way towards the room they needed. Once they placed the C4 in the right spots, Ronon nods towards Todd. "Is there another way out?"_

_"This way," Todd comments._

_Making their way over there, they managed to get about a couple of steps into the hall when the hybrids begin to fire at them. Running back into the room, they take cover behind a console. Ronon picks up his Walkie and says into it, "Fall back to the Gate, no questions."_

_"Yes, sir," the voice on the other side of the radio responded._

_"Maybe we should blow it up now," Todd says._

_"Not until my men are at a safe distance."_

_"As you wish."_

_The two of them continued to fire at the hybrids. Trying to protect their position as best as they could. After agonizing minutes later, the voice comes back on the radio. "We're at the Gate."_

_"Good," Ronon responds back. "Go back to base camp, now." He quickly he turns off his radio, before his men could respond._

_"How about now?"_

_"Why not," he seemed to say with a slight smile, before he blew them up._

* * *

Rodney looks up as he see the end of the sand slowly disappear into a Tok'ra Crystal Tunnel. "I'm sorry. I wish there was a lot more happier endings."

John steps out of the tunnel and looks back at it. "That's not a problem. If this works, it'll be one big happy ending. Just took a long time to get it."

"You must be hungry. You're not making any sense."

"No, I just trust the fact that Dara put her trust in you."

Rodney looks over at John and sighs. "Sometimes I wonder if it's just misplaced."

Not saying another word, John and Rodney enter the Stasis room. Rodney moves over to a panel in the wall and holds his hand near it. No sooner did he do that, the panel pops up. "Take the first crystal. It has the address of where we found Teyla."

"You know, you never told me what happened to you. I know you survived and all."

"Only because I quit."

"That doesn't sound like you."

"I know, but we were under new management."

* * *

_Rodney whined as he laid on the gurney as Jennifer examined his finger. Standing up she gives him a look. "It's a splinter."_

_"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."_

_"I'm sorry," Jennifer say with a release of breath. "You just couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm just under a lot of pressure."_

_Rodney sits up and puts his hands on her shoulder. "I know. I'm sorry. If you want, I can-"_

_"Dr. Keller, Dr. McKay," a voice says, interrupting Rodney. Rodney stands up and turns around to see Mr. Woolsey standing there. "It's nice to see you."_

_"Mr. Woolsey," Rodney says with a nod towards him. "I see you managed to get your hooks into controling Atlantis."_

_"Hmmm, yes," Mr. Woolsey says a little uncomfortably. "I've come to tell you two that there are to major restructuring in both of you departments."_

_"I can't afford any more changes. I'm already stretched as it is," Jennifer says as she looks around the infirmary._

_"Only because of all that humanitarian work you are doing."_

_"There are people dying out there!" Rodney exclaims._

_"Yes I know. The IOA feels that we have to many threats to deal with that we shouldn't have to deal with this one. We are pulling everyone back."_

_"And what about Atlantis, hmmm?" Rodney questions._

_"The IOA believes that Michael is well aware the defensive and offensive capabilities that he'll have to put a second thought into attacking us."_

_A few days later Rodney had found out about the fact that Jennifer was quiting. As he thought about it, the more he could see, that she was right. So, when he finally went to see her, he told her that he was quiting too._

_It wasn't long after they had returned to Earth, they had gotten married. They had nice little house, with jobs they both loved. He had taken a high paying job from a science firm. Jennifer had actually was able to open her own practice._

* * *

"You know if I go back, you can Jennifer might not have that prefect life."

"I'm counting on it."

"What? I'm seriously confused on this."

Rodney looks over at John and sighs. "It was nice. Until about a year later. She was dying from complications from exposer from the Hoffian Drug. By the time the symptoms presented themselves, it was too late for her. She died a few days later. It was then that idea hit me. If I can get you back from the future with the information you needed, I could change the fate of two galaxies."

John carefully grabs the first crystal and gripps it tightly. "Are you sure about this Rodney?"

"Of coarse I'm sure about this! I'm surprised you even ask. All those people you have lost and someone like me gave you a chance to go back to them."

"I had to ask. I have to ask one thing. What happens if this don't work?"

"You won't feel nothing. I mean, you just won't wake up. That's all."

"That's nice to know."

Rodney slightly nods. "I'll be here when you thaw. After that, we'll have to rush you to the Gate."

John nods towards Rodney. "Alright. I guess, I'll see you later."

* * *

"Incoming Worm Hole!" Chuck yells out, getting everyone's attention. He wasn't surprised when Dara just snorts and continued to read a stack of papers she seemed to carry with her when she either left her room or office. "It's Col. Sheppard's IDC!" He watched when she quark up her eyebrow, but nothing more.

Rodney and Col. Carter ran out of her office and down towards the active Stargate. "Sercurity!" Col. Carter called out.

Soon the security, Sam, and Rodney stood near the Stargate. Then Col. Sheppard comes running through the Stargate. He stops short and raises his hands. "It worked! Rodney, you're a genius," John says as he points towards Rodney.

"Ummm, thank you."

"How many days have I been gone?"

"About 12 days," Sam comments as she looks at him kind of funny.

"Good, good. Teyla is still alive."

"What are you talking about?" Rodney had to ask.

Before John could answer Dara calls down from the second story tier railing, "Welcome back, John. Rodney, you couldn't cut it any closer?"

"What is she talking about?" Rodney asked as he points up towards her.

"Crystal?" Dara asks. John carefully reaches into his breast pocket and slowly pulls out an Ancient crystal. He holds it up enough for Dara to see. "Good." Looking over at Sam she then says, "Are you going to get him to the isolation room or what? The sooner that Jennifer Keller can prove that it's actually him, the sooner we can go and save Teyla." Then with that, Dara turns back, grabs her stack of papers, and starts to leave. She stops long enough to say, "Let me know when we are going. I'll be in my office."

* * *

Even though John had just gotten shipped to the isolation room, Dara was running around getting her gear together. When she thought she had it all, she started to head towards the Gate room. She was half way there, when she was stopped by someone calling her name. Turning around she sees Col. Carter coming her way.

"Glad I caught you along the way. I'm heading to the infirmary. I need you to get Kimberley and Carson geared up. Get to your Jumper and dock on the Daedalus."

"What? Why?"

Col. Carter sighs. She knew this was going to be tough, if Dara argued with her. "Your Puddle Jumper is one of the most powerful weapons we have. I need you there. Backing us up incase we need it."

"Why do you need the three of us?"

"You're the better flier. Kimberley will be there for the backup flying. Carson will be there because of the fact I know the track record between the two of you."

"What about the fact that you haven't confirm Col. Sheppard's story yet?"

"It'll take the Daedalus three hours to get there, so I want them to move out now. Just encase. Also, by the fact you are getting around, tells me that you already know it's true. So, do me a favor and just please do as I ask."

Dara stands up straighter and nods her head towards Col. Carter. "Yes, Ma'am." With that, Dara turned on her heel and begins to walk towards Kimberley's room. Soon she was walking down the corridor at a very fast pace of speed. When she was half way down the hallway, she presses her ear piece and says, "Dr. Beckett?"

"Yes?"

"If you haven't heard already, you are to suit up for a mission and meet me and Kimberley at our Puddle Jumper."

"Ummm, okay," he replied.

Once she reached Kimberley's door, she swipes her hand over the crystals to alert Kimberley that she was there. After a minute, Kimberley comes to door and looks at Dara. "Yes?"

"Gear up. We're moving out."

"Please tell me this is because John came back!" Kimberley explained.

Dara just nods towards her. "When you gear up, meet us at our Puddle Jumper."

"Okay."

* * *

Dara slowly lowered the Puddle Jumper on the 302 Bay floor. Standing up, she looks over at Carson and Kimberley. "I guess we better go see Col. Caldwell."

Kimberley and Carson nods towards Dara as they follow her to the Command Bridge. As she walked through the corridors, Kimberley walked a little faster to walk next to Dara. "Am I right in believing that they may be going to Michael's building that implodes?"

Dara sighs and nods her head. "Yeah. I was trying to get us on the team to help, so that doesn't happen. Instead I get us shipped here."

"Look at this way, we can help from here."

"Yeah..." Dara trailed off.

They finally made it to the bridge and Dara nods towards Col. Caldwell. "Colonel," Carson says.

"Dr. Beckett, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Boyce."

"We are ready to go, sir," Dara says.

"Good." Looking over at his navigator, he nods. "Get us out of here."

The man nods towards Col. Caldwell and presses a few buttons. Soon the ship jumped into Hyperspace. Dara stared out the window, then turned. "Yay. Now the three hour wait. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my Puddle Jumper."

* * *

About three hours later, Kimberley walked into her's and Dara's Puddle Jumper. She noticed that Dara was in her Pilot's Chair. Walking over, she noticed that Dara had fallen asleep. Carefully she grabs Dara's shoulder and shakes it.

"Huh? What?" Dara sits up and looks around blinking.

"I figured you would like to know that we're about to drop out of hyperspace."

Dara just blinks at her for a second when it seemed to dawn on her. "Get Carson. Tell him to get a strong sedative, if he doesn't already have one." Kimberley just stands there staring at her. "Go!" Once she took off running for Carson, Dara hits her ear piece. "Col. Caldwell. As soon as we drop out of hyperspace and I have Kimberley and Carson on board, I'm launching."

"Understood," he replies back.

Once Carson and Kimberley got into the Puddle Jumper, Dara smiles and faces forward. "Buckle up kiddies. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

"Baldwin, we dropped out of hyperspace and have a Wraith Cruiser looking at us. Any suggestions?"

As Dara moved her Jumper out into space, she opens the communication channel. "Keep the shields up, no matter what. Pick up the three Puddle Jumpers out there and take out Michael's hyper drive." Without waiting for a response from Col. Caldwell, she was soon flying down to the planet. As she weaved in and out of the Wraith Darts, she brought up the HUD.

"There," Kimberley says as she points to the two glowing dots.

"It says it's Col. Sheppard and Ronon."

"Baldwin," Col. Caldwell says over the line. "Col. Carter wants us to beam Col. Sheppard and Ronon Dex up. This will require us to lower our shields."

"Don't," Dara casually replies. "I'm on my way now to beam them both up. You're going to need those shields more."

"Understood," Col. Caldwell, replies.

Once Dara was in position, she beamed up John and Ronon. "Oh dear lord!" Carson exclaimed as he ran over to John's side. Not even waiting for anyone to say anything, Dara took off back to the Daedulus.

* * *

"So, how are we going to play this?" Col. Carter asks.

"We get in, we grab Teyla, we get out, and we blow that ship up," John replies.

"I'm going to have to agree with John here," Dara says.

"How are we even going to do that?" Col. Caldwell asks.

"We position a Puddle Jumper, cloaked, near the Cruiser's bay doors. Launch 302 fighters, which of coarse Darts will be launched in response. We slip in. Problem solved," Dara said.

"What she said," John says as he points towards her.

Sam stands there for a moment, trying to debate on if she wanted them to do it or not. Figuring that either way they were going to go and do it, she was better off giving them the go ahead. "You guys may go. Though, I do have to speak with you John."

John stopped and sighed. As he watched the last of them walk out of the room, he turns and looks at Col. Carter. "Yes, Ma'am."

"I had a talk with Dr. Keller. Last time I heard, you weren't cleared for active duty."

"She changed her mind on that. Trust me. Please."

"Fine."

John stops for a second and gives Col. Carter a funny look. "Fine?"

"Fine. Go."

"Ummm, thanks."

Col. Samantha Carter watched him walk out of the room. She knew she couldn't fight him on it, but she had a strong feeling that Dara would take care of it.

* * *

"Okay, let's go," John says as he walked up to the group.

"Not yet. I have a few things to finish going over," Dara says.

John stands there and nods. "Okay, continue on."

"Thank you." Dara looks over at Rodney and says, "You're driving one of Atlantis's Puddle Jumpers."

"Whoa, whoa! If anyone is driving a Puddle Jumper, it's me!" John exclaimed.

Dara seemed to ignore him as she turned towards Carson. "Carson, I'm going to need you to stay in the infirmary, taking care of a patient."

"What? Who?"

Without any warning, Dara jabs her fingers into John's side. "Sorry, John, but there is no way I'm letting you go on that cruiser in that condition."

"What the hell?" Carson asks as he runs over to John's side, as he sank to the ground.

Dara holds up her hand to show Carson the blood on her fingers. "You take care of him Carson. You got me?"

"Aye," he replied as Dara walked away with Kimberley, Ronon, and Rodney.

"That was a little mean," Ronon whispered towards Dara.

"Had to be done," she quietly replies back.

"Fair enough."

Soon the group entered into the Puddle Jumper and Rodney quickly made his way towards the Pilots Chair. Before he sat down, he turns and looks at Dara. "Is there a reason you want to take one of ours, instead of yours?"

"Do you really want that Puddle Jumper anywhere near enemy territory?"

"Point taken," quickly throws in before he sits down.

* * *

Rodney carefully sets down the Puddle Jumper, turns and looks at Dara. "What's the plan of attack?"

"We save Teyla and we get out of here. Is there anything else? Oh, maybe do some damage while we're at it."

"I like that idea," Ronon says as he slaps Dara on the back.

Once she adjusts herself back into the standing position, she looks around the group. "Are we ready?"

"Do I have to really go?" Kimberley asks.

"Yes," Dara responds, just before she hits the hatch button.

The group leaves the Puddle Jumper and quickly heads out of the Dart Bay. They make their way through the halls of the cruiser, carefully avoiding the all the hybrids that were running around. They finally reached a room where Rodney could hook up his Tablet to the computer and get the required information off of it. As he did that, Dara leaned in to get a good look at his Tablet. "What does it say about Teyla?"

Yanking the Tablet out from under her nose, he says, "Do you mind? Once I find out, you'll know too."

"Well, hurry up, Rodney!"

"Yes, yes. I'm going as fast as I can." Rodney began to press buttons as fast as he could. "Okay, I think I found her."

"Good," Dara says. "Ronon, do you want to lead the way?"

"With pleasure," he replies. Getting a quick look at the Tablet that Rodney held, he moved in the direction that the map pointed out.

After running through the corridors they came to a room that a couple of guards posted at the door. Ronon and Dara quickly stepped up and began to fire on the hybrids, taking them down pretty fast. Before the last one to fall, hit the floor, Dara and Ronon made it to the door.

When they opened the door, they kept their weapons pointed up to be on the safe side. "Ronon. Dara. Is that really you?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah," Ronon replied.

As Teyla stood up, she wobbled a little. Just before she could fall over, Dara managed to run over and catch her. "Whoa! Slow down there. I know you're in a rush to get out of here, but we can't let you hurt yourself."

"I am fine, Dara."

Kimberley makes her way quickly over to Teyla's side. "Here, let me support her. We need you to keep shooting. Better aim and all."

"Alright," Dara says as she carefully transfers Teyla over to her.

"You're pretty weak, Teyla. What did he do to you?"

"He has been taking a lot of blood. How much, I do not know."

"Uh, friends," Rodney says as he looks at the four of them.

"Yes, Rodney?" Dara asked.

"We have a slight problem. Michael almost has his hyper drive on line."

"How soon?" Ronon asks.

"In a matter of minutes."

Dara scratches the top of her head, trying to get her thoughts in order. "Okay. You three stay here. Kimberley, give Teyla some of that orange juice that I know you have in your bag. Ronon and I will go to the hyper drive and blow it up."

Sounds like a plan," Ronon comments as he slaps Dara's shoulder.

"Do you even have any C4?" Rodney asks. Dara just turns her head at him and gives him this look. "Right, right. Pyromaniac. Probably have more that what John usually carries."

"Come on, Ronon."

Soon, Ronon and Dara were running through the corridors to the hyper drive room. They didn't have to say much to each other, because they were both such loners that they knew how to respond to each other. Once they reached the hyper drive room, Dara pulled out the C4 and placed it on parts of the hyper drive. When she was done, she nods towards Ronon and they head to safe distance in the corridor. Figuring they were in a safe spot, Dara sets off the C4s and they take off running towards the room where they left the three.

Dara stops at the room long enough to poke her head in and say, "Alright guys. Time to move out." Getting near Ronon's side, she nods to him. He nods back and they begin to take off when they knew that Teyla, Rodney, and Kimberley could keep up. When they finally reached the Dart Bay, Rodney steps forward, hitting the Jumper de-cloaker button.

"Where is it?" he asked as he kept stepping closer, hitting the button.

"Give it here!" Dara exclaimed as she grabbed the remote of his hand. She begins to jab the button really hard and very fast. "It should be here! You did park it right here, right?"

"Yes! I did park it there!" Rodney exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Dara says as she places her hand on her forehead. "We just have to turn off the Jamming Code and the Daedalus can beam us back over. Not a problem."

"Rodney?" Kimberley questions.

"Look, we have to go back to bigger terminal. That way I can connect my Tablet to it and give the commands."

"So, we back track. The only other option is one us has to fly a Dart."

"I vote for turning off the Jamming codes," Rodney says quickly.

Dara rubs her forehead and looks at the group. "Rodney, show Ronon where you need to go. Ronon lead the way."

When Ronon got a good look at the map, he enters the corridor and takes off running in a direction. Rodney and Kimberley supporting Teyla follow after him as Dara covered their six. When they finally reached a Terminal, Rodney began to hook up his Tablet. Dara hears a noise and turns her head in that direction. Seeing a large group of hybrids coming their way, she yells, "Down!"

Everyone got down and started to fire their weapons at the hybrids. "What are you doing?" Ronon asks Rodney.

"Trying to not get killed."

"How about you turn off that Jamming code so the Daedalus can beam us over and we can not die over there," Dara replied.

"Look I'm sorry, I don't always do well under pressure!"

"Say you're sorry when we are over there!" Dara screamed at him as she continued to fire.

After what seemed like forever, Rodney looks at the group and says, "Okay, I think I got it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Kimberley!" Dara exclaimed.

Kimberley hits her ear piece and says, "Col. Caldwell, five to beam up!"

They all disappear in a flash of light, then reappear in the Daedalus's infirmary. Carson peeks his head around the corner and sees the group standing there. Quickly he runs over to their side and says to Ronon, "Help me get her on the gurney."

Ronon nods and moves over. Without much effort he picks her up and puts her on the gurney. Carson quickly pushes her off to be examined as he left the group to have a post mission check over with the nurses.

As Dara stood there, watching Carson wheel Teyla away, Ronon comes up and slaps her on the shoulder. "Good job."

Dara blinks at him a couple of times before it finally sinks in. "Yeah, thanks."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

* * *

As Dara sat there after the nurse left, Jennifer came into the infirmary and seen her. "Dara?"

"Yes?"

"John is done with his operation. You can go and see him if you want."

Dara slides off of the gurney and nods towards Jennifer. "Thanks, I will." Dara slowly makes her way over to the beds and goes over to John's side.

"Hey," he says towards her.

"Hey," she replies back.

"I heard you did a good job over there." She opens her mouth to say something, when he interrupted her. "If you ever pull something like that again, I will pull you off field duty."

John watched as he face got very red, before she started to scream at him. "Like you have the authority to pull me off of field duty! You are not my commanding officer! I don't know... why... I..." It was about then she stumbled a little and then fell to the ground.

John tried to lean over as best as he could. Seeing her not moving he begins to yell out. "DR. KELLER! HELP!"

Jennifer comes running over and looks at John. "What? What happened?"

"It's Dara," he replied as he pointed to the floor.

She runs over and kneels down to check her over. After a minute she looks up and over at the door. "Kimberley."

Kimberley slowly peeks around the door way, before she full comes into view. Trying to look innocent and not at all guilty, she shuffles her feet and says, "Yes, Dr. Keller?"

"What did you do with that horse tranquilizer pill I gave you?"

"Ummmm, slipped it into a drink and gave it to Dara."

Jennifer narrows her eyes towards Kimberley. "Why would you do that?"

"Well... You know how she's been stressed out for the last two to three weeks?"

Jennifer nods. "Yes. Now continue on with your explanation as you help me get her up on the spare gurney there."

As Kimberley helps Jennifer get Dara up, she continues on. "I know sleep does help her with her stress. I also know that she worked herself up so bad that it was going to take weeks for her to calm down, especially with the way these two act."

"Hey! I had nothing to do with this!" John exclaimed.

"Yeah and I guess I imagined you two yelling at each other before she hit the ground." Kimberley looks back over at Dr. Keller and continues on. "Anyways, I figured I would jump the gun and get the whole teeth pulling done now."

Jennifer stands there for a moment, then nods. "Okay. You're probably right. Next time though, include me in on this."

Kimberley gives off a smile and nods. "Sure thing, Jennifer." Turning, she skips off to find Carson.

As Jennifer turns to go back to her office, she stops and stares at John. "What?" he questions.

"Shame on you. She's been worried sick about you and Teyla and you yell at her for it. You're lucky I'm a doctor, because what she did to that wound would seem mild to what I do to you."

John just sallows and nods as Jennifer walked away. After about a minute he turns and looks at Dara. He couldn't help but to smile as he watched her drool on the pillow. "You were worried about me?"


	36. Wrong Space, Wrong Time

John tilted his head to the side as he looked at the obelisk, in the middle of the hall. "So, what does this say, Rodney?"

"I'm not sure," Rodney speaks up from the desk. Quickly he makes his way over to John's side and scans the obelisk. "I think it mentions something about an experiment that the Ancients where conducting with one of their allies."

"What kind of experiment and with whom?"

"I don't know! I'm not the best at reading Ancient!"

"Why aren't you?" John questioned back.

"Why would I when we have a perfectly good Ancient reader back on Atlantis."

"Jeez, Rodney," Dara says as she stares intently at the obelisk herself. "Kimberley can't always come with us and things like this, stone, can't go to Kimberley."

"Yeah, so. I can take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures."

"You know, you would figure that you would want to learn more Ancient, so you could get more stuff done and faster, without having Kimberley translate it," Dara says with a smirk on her face.

Snorting, Rodney tried to ignored Dara as he continue to scan the obelisk. "Okay, I think I have something. Follow me."

Soon Teyla, Ronon, John, and Dara were following Rodney around the inside of the building until they arrived in one big room. As they made their way towards the middle of the room, everything slowly came on behind them. Dara scooted a little closer to Ronon, which caused John to give her a small look. "What?" Dara whispered towards him.

"Nothing."

"Look, last time stuff came on, I was made a little kid. I don't plan on reliving my childhood, again."

Rodney goes over towards the machine and begins to hook his tablet to the it. Quickly pressing a few keys on his tablet, he looks up. "I think I got something."

"Is it dangerous?" John asked as he kind of glances at what Rodney was doing.

"No, I don't think so."

"You do not think so?" Teyla asks.

"Yeah, possiablely."

About that time, a large arc turns on, causing it to glow and create a different type of event horizon. Dara steps a little closer to it, tilts her head to the side, and stares at it. "Do you feel that?"

"Dara, what are you doing?" John asked as he grabs her arm.

Stopping, she looks at John like he was just there. "Don't you feel that?"

"What?"

Turning back towards the arc, she stares at it. "The vibration in the air."

"Okay, that's it!" John grabs her shoulders and leads her over to a chair and sits her down. "You stay there."

Blinking, she looks up at him. "Why?"

"We don't need another crystal nightmare creature incident, all over again."

"Nightmare creature?" Teyla questions.

"When you were captured by Michael."

"Uh, oh," Rodney says as he looks up from his tablet.

"What?"

"There's a power spike," Dara calmly replies.

"How do you know that?" John ask.

"How does she know that?" Rodney asks at the same time.

"Why?" John asks as he turns towards Rodney.

"Because that's exactly true!" Rodney exclaims.

Without warning the Ark begins to spark and have bolts of energy move about it. John watched in slow motion as one shot out like a bolt of lightning, towards Dara. Without even thinking, he turned, using his body to protect her.

* * *

Groaning, John rolled over on to his back and stared up at the ceiling. "That was painful." Sitting up, he asks, "How long was I out?" Looking around, he noticed no one was there with him. "Great, just great. Did they all just leave without me?" Shaking his head, he removes those thoughts quickly. "No, they wouldn't do something like that, especially Dara."

Slowly, John makes his way of the building and heads towards the Stargate. He wished he could full out run, but his body ached way to much. It was killing him just to walk to the Stargate. When he reached the DHD, he put in Atlantis's address, then put in his IDC. Slowly he was getting tired waiting for the confirmation code for him to go through, when it finally did. "About time," he commented, just before he stepped through the Stargate.

Stepping through, on the other side, he stops and raises his hands in the air. He was surprised by the fact that he had a bunch of Marines pointing their weapons at him. "What's going on here? Someone get Col. Carter here, so I can talk to her!"

No sooner where those words out of his mouth, Col. Carter comes down and stands in front of him. She continued to stare at him as if she was seeing a ghost. Finally after a second or two of tense atmosphere, she finally asked, "Who are you?"

"Look, I'm Lt. Col. John Sheppard. What is going on?"

"Lt. Col. Sheppard?" Col. Carter seemed to ask more than state anything.

"Yes!"

"That's impossible."

"Obviously it's not, because I'm standing right here."

"I know that's possible, because of the fact that Lt. Col Sheppard is currently no longer among us."

* * *

John paced back and forth in the isolation room. This was like when he thrown into the future and came back, all over again. After a while, the door opens and Teyla steps into the room. He watched as she moved closer to him. When she was close enough, he knew what she was aiming for. When she was close enough, they slightly bowed their heads and touched foreheads.

After that moment, Teyla steps back and smiles at him. "John, it's good to see you."

"I would say the same thing, but..." John says as he trails off, indicating to the room.

"You have to understand from our position. You are not here anymore and you are so very far from us."

"So, what's going to happen to me?"

"We do not know yet. We are running a lot of tests on your blood and currently going over the scans." Teyla goes over to one of the chairs and sits down.

John wanders over to the other chair and flops down into it. "So, then what is going on with me?"

"As far as we can surmise, we believe whatever is going on with you, has something to do with the planet you came off of. Am I correct in this conclusion?"

John runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "I'm thinking you're right. That's about when everything went fubar."

"So, what was the last thing you remember?"

"Well, the machine on the planet started up and was acting up, then there was this bolt that went for Dara. Next thing I remember, I woke up on the floor and no one was around."

Nodding, Teyla stands up. "Kimberley suspected as much. At least we know where to start then."

John watched as Teyla turned to walk out, when he calls out, "Wait!" When she stopped and turned back around, he continued on. "What are you guys going to do with me."

"Isn't obvious, John? We are going to go to the planet and hopefully send you back to where you belong."

* * *

Hours later, John was getting the feeling of climbing up the walls of the isolation room, when Col. Carter walked in. Feeling the pressure of being cooped up in the room, he couldn't help it when he snapped at her a little. "What is going on?"

"Calm down. We've run into a slight snag, in hopes of getting you back to where you belong."

"That would be?"

Col. Carter sighs and looks at him. "The machine there, only about half of it activates. We know it has something to do with you, so if you want, we can send you back to the planet. Hopefully while there you can help Lorne's team figure it out."

"Lorne's?"

Making a face towards him, she continues on, "You'll find out when you get there."

* * *

John walked towards the building that housed the machine, with a group of marines in tow behind him. When he entered the building, he watched as Ronon pushed himself off the obelisk and headed towards him. Stopping in front of John, Ronon looked at the marines and growled out, "I can take it from here."

John watched as the marines seemed to shrug, then turn around and headed back to the Stargate. Turning back around, he stares at Ronon, as he seemed to be sizing him up. Then out of nowhere, Ronon grabs him in a bear hug and says, "It's nice to see you again. Even though, it's not really you."

"Yeah, I get were you're coming from."

Ronon pats him roughly on the shoulder, almost causing John to buckle under the impact. "Come on. Let's get you home."

"Yeah, that would be very good."

John followed Ronon through the building to the room he had just came out of many hours ago. As he walked through the doorway, Teyla nods towards him. Nodding back, he finally gets a good look at who all was in the room. He was expecting more scientists, than what he seen before him. The only people that were there were Maj. Lorne, Ronon, Teyla, Dr. Zelenka, and Kimberley. Scratching his head in confusion, he watched as Dr. Zelenka and Kimberley argued over something as Maj. Lorne stood there watching them, rolling his eyes. "What is going on?" he asked. He was surprised when all three of them turned and stared at him.

Maj. Lorne walks a little closer towards him and dips his head a little. "It's good to see you, sir."

John just looks at him. "Cut the sir, crap. I'm not your commanding officer."

"Yes, sir."

Sighing, John turns and sees Dr. Zelenka and Kimberley fighting again. "What are you two fighting about? Where is Rodney? Why isn't he working on this? Where is Dara?"

With those questions, Kimberley stops arguing with Dr. Zelenka and stares at John. "No one told you, did they?"

"That I'm-"

"No, not that!" Kimberley exclaimed, interrupting him. "I meant about Rodney and Dara."

"What happened to them?"

"Nothing."

Sighing internally, John then just stares her down. "Then what about them?"

"Well, they're both on earth now, so getting any help from Rodney is zero to slim. Besides you have Radek and me! We can solve this, easily." With that, Kimberley turns towards Dr. Zeleka and calmly says, "That is, unless someone agrees with me."

Dr. Zeleka begins to mutter and walk away from Kimberley. John watched as Kimberley moved off towards a different part of the machine, to study. It was then Dr. Zeleka moved towards John and says, "You know she became almost insufferable after Dara left. There are days where I would wish I was getting berated by Rodney, then listen to her!" With that little statement he moved back towards Kimberley, muttering angrily in Czech.

Maj. Lorne smiled and walked up to John. "Don't worry about those two. They're actually quit friendly with each other. I think the only time it usually gets like this is when it comes to dealing with Ancient."

"Fine then! I'll solve it right now!" Kimberley practically yelled. Turning towards John, she gives him the sweetest smile. "John, can you come here and do me a favor? I just need to see if you can turn on this equipment."

Being a little leery about that smile, he slowly replies, "Sure." Making his way towards the machine, he stops and points towards the one he thinks Kimberley indicated too. When she nods towards him in a response, he turns back to the machine and carefully touches it. Hoping to get it to turn on like more Ancient tech.

"See! I told you Radek! He can't do it. If Maj. Lorne can't, than he shouldn't be able to either."

"I know that! I was hoping there was some latent radiation on him from the first trip, that would activate with that."

Sighing, Kimberley rolls her eyes towards Dr. Zelenka. Finally she turns towards John and says, "Was there anything different, this time around compared to the last?"

"Rodney. He hooked his tablet to that machine," John said as he pointed to one of the consoles more towards the center of the room.

Dr. Zelenka quickly moved over towards the Console and slowly started to hook up his tablet to the machine.

"There is one thing different now," John says, as he thought back. "When we came in the first time, everything came on. Like the first time we came to Atlantis."

"Then that means someone else has another ability that a normal ATA gene carrier doesn't have."

Kimberley looked John right in the eyes and asked, "Who was there then?"

John looks around at the group that stood before him. "We had Rodney and Dara, then."

Kimberley slaps her her forehead with her hand. "This is going to be a problem."

"What is?"

Maj. Lorne sighs and looks at John. "Getting the both of them back here."

"Why?"

"Long story," Kimberley comments. Then out of no where, she gets this look on her face.

"Oh, great!" Dr. Zelenka exclaims.

"I have an idea!"

* * *

John sat in the car, looking out at the house with the perfectly cut lawn. There was something about this scene that bothered him really far deep down. When he had questioned Kimberley on why Dara was on their earth and not her's and Kimberley's home earth, all she did was shake her head and said it wasn't her place to tell. Getting out of the car, he slowly heads up the cement walk way towards the door, trying not to think to much on Kimberley's idea. Her idea was simple and he really didn't want to over work it. It was mostly, John talks to Dara, to get her to come back. She figured that only he had the ability to do it.

Carefully, he raises his fist to the door, to knock, when the door suddenly opened up. "John?" Rodney says a little surprised. Shaking his head a little, he indicates into the house. "Come in, come in. Sorry. I knew you were coming, but still, it's still a shocker to actually see you."

John walks into the house and looks around. Sure, it was furnished nicely, but other than that, it gave no indication of who lived there. "I think it's more a shocker on the fact that you are even here and not on Atlantis."

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm a sucker for trying to help out a friend."

Raising an eyebrow towards Rodney, he just gives him a look. "A friend?"

"Yes, I'll have you know. Just a friend."

"You know, I was always worried about Ronon taking her from me, but never you."

"John! Just listen, okay?" John was so surprised by the tone of his voice, that all he does is nodded. "Good. Please, follow me."

John followed Rodney all the way into the kitchen, than sat down in a chair, at the table. He watched as Rodney moved around the kitchen, then deposited a can of soda and a sandwich in front of him. "You didn't even offer and I didn't even say I was hungry."

"Sorry. Force of habit," Rodney says as he sits down opposite of John.

"Force of habit?"

"When I said helping out a friend, I really meant it. What happened to you, bothered Dara more than she cared to admit. You know with her, she has these nasty of habit of using everyday life to cover up the pain. She first moved to this earth as an excuse to split her and Kimberley's knowledge up. She claims, that just in case Michael came here and not Atlantis. Kimberley mostly mentioned that she's trying to find ways to work through her sadness and what not."

"She can work through that stuff pretty fast," John says, just before he takes a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, usually, but this time it hit her harder than normal. She won't admit it, but she likes you a lot more than she lets on. Kimberley says it has something to do with not becoming to attached encase something bad happens. The major pessimist view on life."

"Not to interrupt, by why are you taking advice from Kimberley?"

"Because you don't even want to know that Dr. Baxter comes up with. Besides, Kimberley was close enough to Dara to have a better idea on what was going on in that brain of hers. Are you going to continue to interrupt?"

John sits back and polishes of the sandwich. "No, no. Continue on."

"Thank you! Anyways, when she first moved here, she had a small apartment. Being a concerned friend, I would periodically send her e-mails. She would respond once and a while, but you know Dara with e-mails, short and to the point. It got to the point that Kimberley was concerned as well. Usually, Dara would rant about something, but that slowly disappeared."

"Maybe she got tired of you guys bothering her."

"I wish that was the point," Rodney says with a sigh. "With the fact that Kimberley kept bothering me and I was getting worried as well, I e-mailed Jeannie and asked her to check up on her. When Jeannie got back to me on how Dara was really doing, I knew I had to come here and help her."

"How was she doing?"

"Her apartment was a mess, she barely ate anything, hence the habit," Rodney says, indicating to the empty can and plate. "She threw herself into her work. I had to get her to work more outlets. I knew she wouldn't come back to Atlantis, unless she went back home. We take care of own and I figured it would be best I was the one to do it."

"How are you helping her?" John asked. "Feeding her? Anyone could do that. What are these other outlets you mentioned?" John questioned as he starred intently at Rodney.

"This house. When I bought it, it was empty and a major fixer upper. Not to mention, she does take care of me. Well expect for the feeding herself. She keeps the house stocked and clean. She always reminds me of my appointments."

John holds up his hands towards Rodney. "Okay, I get it. So, where is she at now?"

Rodney picks up the can and the plate, takes care of them, and sighs. "She's currently on a mission with Daniel and Vala. We tried to get her off the mission, but she wouldn't have it."

"Did she know I was coming? That might have helped."

Sitting back down, Rodney shakes his head. "I think that's why she insisted to finish up the mission."

"Why wouldn't she want to see me?"

"You've been out of her life for about four years now. Seeing you like this, for just a short period of time, will hurt her. She's deliberately trying to avoid that pain."

"She can't avoid it forever! I have to get home!"

"I know that, you know that, and she knows that. That's why, you're going to wait right here."

"Right here?"

"Right here in this house. She can only avoid this place for so long and she's smart enough to know that the sooner you get it over with, the better."

* * *

John sat in chair and flipped through the channels on the TV, looking for something to entertain him. Finally he just decided to put it on a paid program and maybe just nap to it. Just as he was starting to doze off, he heard Rodney come down the stairs, as well as the front door open. John suddenly gets up, hoping to meet up with Dara, when Rodney stopped outside the doorway. "Just wait here, okay. Don't want to push her. You know she fights back. Let her come to you."

Sitting back down, John sighs. Muttering out loud to himself, he says, "Has she really turned into that much of a baby?"

"Actually, no. She's that much of a bitch." Stunned at the voice that spoke, John got back up and looked to see Dara standing in the doorway, glaring at him, with Rodney behind her. Seeming to ignore Rodney with his hand on his forehead and shaking his head, Dara crosses the room and stands in front of John. "Rodney does like to stretch things."

"Look, I don't want to cause any problems," John starts off. "I just want to get back to my home. So, I just need you and Rodney come back to Atlantis."

Dara just stares at him, then turns and walks away. She stops at the doorway long enough to say, "I'm not going back there. I made a promise and I intend to stick to it."

Finally having enough, John quickly crosses the room, picks Dara up, then dumps her in the chair he was in. Turning towards Rodney, he says, "Give us a few minutes."

Rodney lifts up his hand. "Not a problem," he replies and leaves.

Turning back around, he pushes Dara back into the chair because of the fact she was getting back up. "I'm a little tired of this."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she asks, "What?"

"You acting like a child! I know something happened to your John and it's hurting you. I'm sorry for that, but did you think that with you not helping me get home, you're doing almost the same thing to my Dara?"

Standing back up, she puts her fists on her hips in anger. "Maybe with a person like you, she's better off!"

John wanted to snap back, but then he realised what he was seeing. Her anger was a shield, to hide and cover the pain. Rubbing his hand over his eyes, he pulls it away to get a better look at her. "Have you talked about it at all? Get it off your chest and what not."

"Who would I talk to about it?"

He could still see the anger there, but it was coming down a lot. There was always a part of her that wouldn't let it go. "What about Rodney? He's here taking care of you!" Dara just snorts in response. "Fine! If not him, what about Kimberley, Teyla, Ronon, Col. Carter?" All she kept doing was shaking her head to each of his responses. "Okay, what about me?"

"What about you?"

"Why not talk to me about it?"

"Because you'll make snippy comments."

"What if I promise I won't."

Dara just shakes her head again. "As much as you promise, you still will."

"What about him?"

Giving him a questioning look, she asks, "Who?"

"Your John."

Turning her head away, she mutters, "I can't."

"Look, trust me when I say, even if he's not physically with you, he'll always be with you."

Snorting at him, Dara does give off a small smile. "Leave it to you, to say some sort of mumbo jumbo crap."

Smiling back, John says, "What can I say? I'm a miracle worker."

Out of no where the air started to swirl around wildly and bolts of electricity started to spark through the air. "What is going on?" Dara tried to scream over the noise.

"I don't know!"

Without any warning a glowing blue arc appeared in the middle of the room. They both barely watched as Dara appeared in it. John could see that she was barely hanging on, her arm wrapped around a rope of some kind. Squinting around the room, she notices him. "John!" Holding out her arm towards him, she calls out, "Come on, hurry up! I don't know how long I can hold on or how long Rodney can keep the machine operating like this!"

John turned and looked down at this world's Dara, he gives off a smile. "Do me a favor, okay?"

"What?" she barely answered back.

"Just talk him, just if it helps you somehow."

Nodding to him, she replies, "Okay."

Smiling once more, he gets up and heads towards his Dara. Fighting against the wind, he reaches towards her and barely manages to grab her hand. "Welcome back, John!" Dara hollers with a smile.

"Thanks!" he replies.

As the wind dies down, Dara stands up from behind the chair and looks at the now empty room.

* * *

"Are you sure that you don't want me to go with you?" Rodney asked Dara as they sat in the car.

Shaking her head, she replies, "No, I remember the way."

Getting out of the car, she begins to move in the directions that her feet once knew so well. Finally she stops outside the door of the room with the sound of so many machines. Slowly she makes her way across the room and sits down in the only chair there. "Hey, John. Sorry I haven't visited in forever. I couldn't handle it. I guess I got weak. It took another you to fix that." Starring at his comatose form, she gives of small smile. "He told me I should talk about it and maybe to you. He was nice and all, but I don't think he realised what kind of position you were in." Carefully she reaches over and takes his hand into her's. "I really do miss you, John." Standing up, she gives him a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll visit tomorrow, okay? I'll make it a proper one and all. Bring flowers, the whole big deal."

As she slowly walked away, she let her hand slowly slid out of his. Before her finger tips could leave though, she felt a grip wrap around them. Stopping, she slowly turns to see a pair of dull eyes looking at her. "Dara?" he gasped weakly.

Soon a big smile spreads across her face. "John! You're awake!" Quickly she crosses the room and gives him a hug. "I've missed you."


	37. Who Are You

Dara groaned at the bright light.

"Morning!" Kimberley spoke loudly as she entered Daras old room. "Tried to keep up with Ronon again, huh?"

"You drunk way more than me, again." Dara pointed out. "Why aren't you hung over?"

"Again, I'm still Scottish." She replied. "And also a good friend."

'Still a myth.' She shoved something under Daras nose, which brought it (and her head) out from under the covers. "A double bacon sandwich!" 'Where does she get these from? Rotella never makes such un healthy food…'

"And two more and some fries in the bag." Kimberley nodded.

"Girl you are a life saver." Dara smiled in thanks, tearing into the greasy food.

"I also got some paracetamol, just in case it's that bad." Kimberley offered her the small while tablets.

Dara shook her head. "Might be sore, but its not that sore."  
o0o  
Dara continued her day grumpily, moving from one end of the city to another, glaring at anyone that was brave or stupid enough to bothered her.

So far, three scientists had landed themselves in the infirmary to avoid her.

'Stupid scientists!' She grumbled to herself, glaring to Ronon as he began walking in step with her. "Go away."

The man grinned at her. "Hung over? Pffft, Earthlings."

"We don't all have livers of steel!" Dara glared at him.

"What you headed to the infirmary for?" He asked.

"Pain killers." She replied.

He paused in his next step.

"So when's the next drinking session?" She asked just at the door to the infirmary.

Ronon shook his head. "You're not drinking with me."

"What?" She demanded, whirling around to glare at him. "Sedetan say what now?"

"You keep pushing yourself to keep up with me, and it's going to cause irreparable damage." Ronon explained, and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you around."

"Grr, stupid Conan!" She yelled at his back.

"Lovers tiff?" Carson asked her as she entered the infirmary, unfazed by her glare.

"Not enough yet for murder though." Dara replied. "You got any pain killers?"

"Whose it for?" Carson moved to the medicine cabinet.

"Me." Dara watched him mis step and then back into the cabinet. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, for a second there I thought you were an alien replication, but no one does that eye roll just right." Carson sighed, then grinned at her cheekily.

"Just get me the pain killers please." Dara ordered.

"Yes sir." Carson grinned at her. "Drinking with Ronon again?"

"Does everyone know about that?" Dara demanded.

"It's the next betting pool." Carson explained.

"What, me getting a hang over?" Dara blinked.

"No, someone is to out drink Ronon without either becoming blootered or dead." Carson shook his head, and picked up a small sachet of drugs. "Take two of the yellow ones, and if they don't kick in after half an hour, take the pink one. Three hours after that, if you are still in pain, take one more yellow one, then come and see me."

"Yes ma'am." Dara thanked him.

Carson smiled to her and watches her leave.

"Doctor Beckett to the gate room, Doctor Beckett to the gate room."

Carson sighed as he was paged.  
o0o  
The Scottish medic entered the gate room and sighed at the site of two members of the first team covered in soot. "What happened tae yes this time?"

John pointed to Rodney, who pointed to Dara, who glared at him. "What?"

"Were were camping on the main land." John explained. "And Einstein here decided that he was going to blow up the camp fire!"

"Excuse me I was only trying stop us from dieing of hypothermia!" Rodney snapped back, and then coughed.

"How is your chest feeling?" Carson asked them, looking for somewhere to place his stethoscope without it being covered in soot.

"Pretty good, I think most of the burns are superficial." John nodded to him, smiling lightly.

"Here, let me help you get that stuff off." Dara spoke quickly before she whacked him in the back.

"Hey!"

"Sorry but you need"** whack** "to get this stuff" **whack** "off before you" **whack** "go anywhere else."

_**Whack**_

Carson watched the exchange between Dara and John with a smile, glad he was here to appreciate the moments between his friends. He almost laughed aloud as the cloud of soot above John increased with each hit.

"I could think of anther way of getting rid of this soot." John waggled his eyebrows at her.

Carson did laugh aloud as the cloud doubled in size, and John bent over in pain.  
o0o  
Doctor Miko Kusanagi smiled to Evan Lorne as he walked with her to the next laboratory. "Thank you for doing this."

"No problemo Doc." Evan returned her smile. "So, you going back to Earth when the Daedalus goes back next month?"

"I am thinking not." She shook her head. "I have far too much work to do to Doctor McKay."

'Okay getting off THAT subject!' Evan thought to himself, and gestured to a machine sitting near a window, a small placard next to it. He picked it up and glanced through it. "It doesn't say 'dangerous' or 'kill everyone in a ten mile radius'."

Miko picked up the small device and looked at it. "We should get this back to Doctor McKay, he will know what to do."

"Isn't he off in the mainland at the moment?" Evan returned, reading the Ancient language again and again, trying to see if anything else popped up into his mind. "What about Doctor Z?"

"Doctor Zabu is off world also at the moment." She shook her head. "We could also take it to Doctor Zelenka?"

"That was, sure, why not?" Evan nodded, fingering his P90 and put the placard in his vest, gently taking the device from the Japanese scientist.

"Please be careful, I have been told that you Americans are clumsy with your hands and weapons." Miko warned him, a serious look on her face.

Evan looked at her and walked into the wall.

"You see what I mean!"  
o0o  
Zelenka entered his lab and stopped short at the sight of Miko and Evan standing there, a tall strange looking device on one of his worktops.

"Major, Doctor, is there something I can do for you?" He asked, walking up to them.

"Hey doc, any chance you can translate this for us?" Evan held up the small card. "It comes with this device."

Zelenka blinked and took the small card from him. "I am not the most experienced at translating Ancient."

"We know, but we figured you could tell us quickly if this device was dangerous." Evan replied. "We don't want to mess about with it if it is dangerous, so we figured we would speak to you first."

"Well, its does not say explicitly what it is for." Radek scanned the text. "I can make out only a few words, and they mostly say about change in nature, an experiment to show off equal something."

"Perhaps we should not touch it until Doctor McKay has had a chance to use his wisdom against it?" Miko replied.

"We could also take it to someone who knows Ancient better than McKay." Even replied, and tried not to react to the shocked look on Miko's face.

"You mean Kimberley?" Radek asked pausing as she walked past his office; double backing as she realized her name had been called.

"What up peeps!" She grinned to them.

She looked at them, and blinked. "What?"

"Kimbo, can you have a look at this for us and tell us what it says?" Evan asked, snagging the card from Radek and handed it to her.

"Um." Kimberley looked at it and stared at the words. "I can see 'make others see the' something, and 'positive enlightenment experiment'. Where did you get this?"

"From the same lab we got the Eureka glasses from." Evan replied.

"Ohh, the psychology lab? Nice!" She grinned. "If you leave this with me I can translate the whole thing."

"While you do that, I'll lock this puppy up." Evan nodded to Miko, to hand him the device.

Miko picked up the long object and moved forward to hand it to him, when her foot slipped on the cold ground. She cried out as she went forward, the device flowing from her hands into the air. "The device!"

Evan watched horrified as it made a beeline for Kimberleys face.

"Ahh!" The Alternate Earthling cried as she threw her hand out, blinking as she caught it in her hands perfectly.

A soft whine emitted from the device.

"Turn it off!" Even demanded.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Kimberley yelled, fingers flying over the device like it was a keyboard, pressing all the buttons, fingers gouging all the grooves.

"Give it here." Dara appeared at her side and nabbed the device, pressing the button at the top. "What the hell is going on in here?"

Kimberley pointed to Evan, who pointed to Miko, who pointed to Radek, who pointed to Rodney.

"What?" The scientist asked.  
o0o  
"Is it too much to ask that you not look at a device, never mind touch it, without people in the nearest galaxy don't all have their hazmat suits on?" Rodney glared to Kimberley as they waited on their radiation and toxicology reports to come back.

"Don't blame me for this one! It was alllll them!" Kimberley replied, pointing to Evan and Miko.

"Well thankfully the device didn't to anything to you all." Jennifer explained as she entered the room. "You're all free to go, just, please stop turning on devices!"

"Yes ma'am!" Kimberley grinned and nodded, rushing to get out of the infirmary.

"What's her rush?" Rodney asked.

"She's meeting Carson soon." Dara replied, and looked up from her nails.

"Why is she so- oh, EW." Rodney made a face.

"What? No!" Dara shook her head. 'Men!' "They're looking for their own room today."

"Like I said, ew." Rodney replied.

"Men." Dara muttered to herself, moving to get off the bed and look for her own pain in the mikta.  
o0o  
Carson looked at his watch and wondered how long Kimberley was going to be. 'She's already ten minutes late, so she shouldn't be that long.'

As he turned to scan the occupants of the mess hall, his eyes spotted Kimberley making her way to him. "Kimburley!"

"Hey Carson." She smiled up at him. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's alright hen." He smiled and placed an arm around her shoulders, smiling to himself, as she didn't completely pull away from him. "So, where do you want to start?"

"North pier." She replied instantly.

"Why the North Pier?" Carson wondered, looking at her quizzically.

"Because it is as far away from the South Pier as possible." She answered with no joke in her tone.

"Aye, I suppose that's a good reason as any." He smiled and they took the long way to look for their new apartment.  
o0o  
Dara watched as Johns chest rose and fell calmly. She looked around to make sure no one was disturbing him.

Jennifer paused as she caught site of Dara sitting at John's bedside. "Dara? What are you doing here?"

Dara pointed to the head of military.

"He's just waiting on Mack to come out of surgery." Jennifer smiled.

'And catching a nap in between!' Dara silently fumed, and wait till the doctor left before glaring down at the man. 'How to get him back...'

Slowly she grinned, and then began ticking his ear.

John batted her hand away, and then jumped up with a shout, flailing in the air before falling off the bed, taking the just washed bedpan with him.

"Oh God, please tell me that isn't what I think it is!" He groaned, looking at his uniform in disgust.

Dara grinned from her spot opposite him and then shook her head. "How's Mack?"

"Ran into some Genii." John replied, but looked as though he wanted the conversation to wait until he changed clothes.

"Landons or-"

"Koylas." Dara watched his face darken and felt something flutter in her chest.

John watched as an unusual emotion fluttered past Daras face and tried to keep the grin off his face. "Hey you want to swing by my place then grab something to eat?"

"Sure." Dara shrugged, standing up and moving over to him, giving him her arm to stand up with.

Jennifer watched the duo leave the infirmary together and smiled at their backs.  
o0o  
In the halls of Atlantis, two strange mists passed each other as they searched for an adventure.  
o0o  
Kimberley turned in her sleep, hugging the figure beside her. 'Hmm, Carson needs to put more weight on.'

Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at John Sheppard's face.

Wait...

"GYAH!" She screamed, scrambling backwards from him. Not taking a second to think about it Kimberley tore from the room, running as fast as she could to her own room and threw her hand over the control crystal, pausing for a second to do it again.

Once it registered she made her way into the room and over to Carson. "Carson! Carson!"

Carson jumped awake at the sound of her voice. "Dara? What's wrong?"

"Oh Carson, it was so scary!" Kimberley replied, throwing herself onto the bed and clung to him, moving her arms to hug him. "I woke up in bed with Shephead!"

"Now, now hen that's-" Carson paused as her lips claimed his.

He responded, before pulling his head back. "Dara, what the hell is going on!"

"Dara?" Kimberley asked, and then noted the reflecting in his eyes. "What the hell?"

"Lets got to the infirmary." Carson suggested.  
o0o  
John and her body were waiting for her in the infirmary when they arrived.

"So let me get this straight." John spoke clearly. "Dara is in Kimberleys body, and Kimberley is in Daras body?"

"Yes." Jennifer and Carson nodded.

"Since when?" John asked.

"Last night." Jennifer explained.

Dara blushed.

Kimberley smacked his arm. "What did you do!"

"I woke up, found out I was in the same room as John and bolted." Dara continued to blush. "I ran to Carson and we kissed before he pulled back."

"You kissed my girlfriend?" John demanded from Carson.

"Don't blame me!" Carson denied, throwing his hands in the air.

"Look, until we get this sorted out, not more kissing anyone, got it." Kimberley glared at Dara. "Got it?"

Dara nodded and gulped fearfully. "I got it I got it!"  
o0o  
Later that night, Ronon stood from his couch and opened his door soon after the chime went off, frowning at the site of Kimberley standing with a crate of Everclear. "Someone die?"

"What? No!" She replied, shaking her head. "I just thought, since Dara betted me, I would give it a shot."

"Give what a shot?" Ronon was suspicious already.

"Drinking you under the table." She grinned. "Dara doesn't think I can do it, but I so can!"

"You sure you're up for this?" Ronon asked.

Kimberley nodded, a smirk falling onto her face.

"Really sure?" Ronon couldn't put his finger on it but he knew something wasn't quite right.

"Hey if you're too chicken to go drinking with a Scottish lass then fine, I'll just go drink with someone else." She turned to walk away.

Ronon grabbed her arm gently. "So you're in a drinking mood?"

Insider her mind, Dara smirked, turning slowly. "That's putting it mildly."  
o0o  
Kimberley slammed the glass on the table and grinned at Ronon. 'Man this is so much fun! Wonder why Kimberley never stays long enough to do this?'

Ronon grabbed the fourth bottle of Everclear and tipped it. He frowned. "It's empty."

"What? No!" Kimberley didn't believe him, and reached over to take the bottle. "Blitz, snack?"

Ronon looked down at her oddly.

'Crap! What does she say?' "Blitsnack?" she fixed, then snapped her fingers. "I know where we can get more booze!"

"Where?" Ronon followed her as she clamored over the cushions towards her room. He watched her pause at the door, and then frowned as she popped the panel off, swapped the crystals with ease and entered the room.

Dara tried to think where Kimberley left her booze and shivered in the coldness of the room, and then her eyes slowly turned to the window.

She walked over, opened it a bit more, and then grabbed the bag that was taped to the wall. Turning she raised the bottles to Ronon. "Gottem!"

Dara blinked, staring the image of Ronon holding Kimberleys old diary in his hands.

"Give that back!" Kimberley screamed at him in horror. 'Kimberley will kill me if he reads that!'

"So it is your diary." Ronon flipped through the book and began reading a loud. "Dear diary, it happened again. I can't believe I was so stuoof!"

Dara felt terror fill her completely. 'He can't know!'

Quickly she came up with a plan and body slammed into him, causing the Sedetan to fall out of the door and for the diary to fall into the mess of the room.

They tumbled on the ground for a few seconds before Dara batted the notebook away from Ronon, not caring as it skid underneath the couch, just as long as it was away from him.

She slammed his arms down on the ground and used Kimberleys body to keep him pinned, and glared down at him, throwing her head to get her hair behind her neck. Bending down she grinned at him. "Say uncle."

"Uncle." He replied, not moving, as she didn't.

His eyes went to her lips, and then hers went to his. Consensually they brought their faces together and their lips met.

Suddenly they snapped away from each other as though they had been bitten.

"That never happened." Kimberley snapped at him.

Ronon nodded.

"No, you don't get me." She grabbed his top and pulled her close to him. "This entire night never happened, you get me?"

Ronon nodded again, moving backwards before leaving the room, turning to look at her oddly before leaving.  
o0o  
Kimberley woke up with the elated feeling of being in her own body, and then groaned.

Steeling herself she pushed up from her bed and stumbled into her closet, grabbing some clothes then headed to the shower.  
o0o  
Still not feeling human an hour later she made her way to the infirmary, where she met Carson.

"Hullo Kimberley! How are you this morning?" He chirped cheerfully, glad his girlfriend was back in her own body.

"I don't feel too good." She told him, before making a face and holding her mouth. "I think I'm gonna puke."

"Are you, youknow, late?" He asked her.

"What?" She stopped looking green and turned red. "NO! Er, I mean, no."

"What did you do last night?" He asked.

"I just sat in Daras office." She replied.

"What did Dara do?" Carson used his pen light to check her pupils, ducking as her hands flew out to bat him away.

"I think she hung out with Ronon." Kimberley replied, looking apologetically at him.

Carson smiled. "Oh, I know what's wrong with you. And it's no terminal."

"So I'm not dieing?" She asked Carson, who shook his head.

"No, you're just hung over hen." Carson smiled to her.

Dara chose that moment to enter the infirmary. "Hey Kimberley, heard you weren't feeling too good-"

"What the hell did you get up to in my body?" Kimberley demanded, sitting up quickly then dropped back down, bringing her knees up to her chest and breathed oddly.

"Drinking session with Ronon." Dara smacked her lips. "You were right about that Morgan's. Oh and we finished off all you're booze."

Kimberley lifted her head to glare at her friend.

"Hey you started it!" Dara pointed out. "We had ground rules; no making out with our boyfriends till we got this sorted."

"I forgot okay!" Kimberley yelled, and then grimaced. 'Ohh just kill me now!'

Dara rolled her eyes but brought a bag out from her back. "Here, it'll make you feel better."

Kimberley stared at the obviously greasy food, wondered for a second how Dara got a hold of it (she wouldn't have done what she herself normally did to get the burgers), before shrugging, and grabbed it, knowing what worked for her friend and her hang over should hopefully work for her.  
o0o  
Later that week Ronon entered the girls' common room and looked around. They were due for their latest training session, and no one had seen them at breakfast. John and Carson had been there and explained that the girls had spent the pervious evening with Teyla as it was a Thursday, and they were probably in their original rooms.

Inside the common room, the Sedetan could not see any of the two alternate earthlings. Taking a guess, stabbing in the dark, calculating chances of survival he walked towards Kimberleys old room and knocked on the door. Getting no response he crossed the room and repeated the knocking, frowning at no response.

Turning around Ronon went back to Kimberleys door about brought out a knife, popping the cover off and quickly changing the crystals.

The room door swished open and Ronon frowned to focus through the darkness.

Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness Ronon spotted the figure huddled up on the bed.

Slowly he stepped toward it, making noises so he didn't spook then, Ronon stopped behind them.

''Kimberley?'' He guessed, watching as her head flew up and looked at him.

''How did you get in here?'' she asked, trying to subtly wipe away the tear tracks from her face.

''What's up?'' he asked, moving to sit down on the bed.

She borrowed her head back on her knees, her arms surrounding her head. ''Nothing.''

Ronon raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Eventually Kimberley realized he wasn't going to leave and she snapped her head up and glared at him. ''Will you effin leave?''

''No.'' he replied simply, crossing his arms and watched her.

''Fine I'll leave.'' she stood up and moved to leave.

Ronon grabbed her arm as she passed, ducking under it and moved his leg as she kicked out. ''What's wrong?''

''Nothing. Everything. I don't know.'' she replied

The male waited.

Kimberley just sighed and shook her head, turning to walk away from him, feebly trying to get her arm free from him.

Suddenly filled with anger she glared at him. ''Let me go or I'll set fire to your dread locks.''

Ronon let her go, waited a few seconds until she turned her back and then raised his gun and stunned her.  
o0o  
''What do you mean Kimberley isn't Kimberley?'' Carson asked, looking at Ronon like he just proclaimed love for a wraith queen and was going to have her love bug.

Ronon gestured to the quiet girl who was silently threatening everyone that went pasted.

"Has anyone seen Dara?" Rodney asked as he came skidding into the room.

"What did you do?" Carson asked him.

"It wasn't me! It was fumbles McStupid head over there!" Rodney pointed to Miko, who was trailing him.

She paused, took a breath, and then burst into tears.

"Oh Miko, honey its okay!" Dara burst into the room and grabbed the sobbing scientist for a hug. "That meanie head will get what's coming to him, don't you worry. Hey, remember he put you on water allocation duty? You can give him cold showers for a month!"

She noticed his glare.

"Or not." She finished.

"What device did you touch?" Carson asked as John walked over to his girlfriend.

"John! How are you?" she asked, latching onto his arm and kissed him on the cheek. "Kill any bad guys?"

"Uh, not yet. Thinking about killing a certain scientist." John replied, subtly trying to detach himself from her.

"Oh no! Don't kill him, you still need him to fix the Alteran-" Dara stopped as Kimberley suddenly slapped her hand over her mouth.

"They don't need to know about that just yet." Kimberley told her.

"Oh. Sorry." She mumbled through her hand.

Kimberley slowly removed her hand, and then turned to Rodney. She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Fix me."

"I dunno, I kinda like this more serious Kimberley." John argued.

"I'm guessing, and only guessing mind you, that if you don't fix me, you're going to have a highly emotional Dara on your hands." Kimberley told him. "I had been releasing my emotions for years, so to me they were at a normal level for society. But Dara has been keeping them in check for decades."

"Oh God I sound old!" Dara cried out suddenly.

Kimberley moved her head to Dara, and then glared meaningfully at John.

"Oh, er, you're not that old Dara!" John tried to reassure her.

"Really?" Dara asked, smiling up at him.

"Er, yeah, sure." He nodded.

"Okay!" She grinned, pecking him on the lips then turned away. "I'm off to bake some cookies for the gate crew!"

"Fix me. Fix her." Kimberley glared at them. "Now!"

"What device did this?" Carson asked.

"The same one that made them swaps bodies." Rodney explained. "I've got Smith and Wesson hunting it down as we speak."

"I'll go help them look." Kimberley stated, heading off to the restricted devices area.

"Actually, Woolsey wants to see you." John's voice made her pause.

Muttering darkly under her breath Kimberley nodded and made her way to a transporter, stepping in before hitting the button closest to Stargate command.  
o0o  
Richard Woolsey stared at Kimberley.

Kimberley stared at Woolsey. "Was there a reason you called this meeting?"

"I just wanted to see if the rumors were true." He stated, looking at her like a piece of art. "Did yourself and Miss Baldwin-"

"Swap mentalities, personalities and thought processes?" Kimberley interrupted. "I think mostly yes."

"Mostly?" He was intrigued.

"I can still verbally out wit anyone on Atlantis, and I don't have a sudden hankering for John Sheppard." Kimberley explained. "But I do want to write down a lot more ideas for things we should explain, but I know if I do I know I won't finish anything and I will get angry with my self and randomly take it out on people that I care for."

Woolsey thought about what she had said and nodded.

"Can I get back to badgering the boys about fixing us? Or do you want to stare for a little while longer Picard?" Kimberley asked.

"Oh, no, go." He replied, watching her leave, then reached under his desk and grabbed his bottle of bourbon. 'It's a sign of the Armageddon!'  
o0o  
A few hours later, everyone gathered in the briefing room.

"So how come the device affected us?" Dara asked. "And why just us?"

"Well after M-" Rodney held his shin as Dara suddenly kicked him. "Hey like, OW!"

"Stop being mean." She sulked at him. "Miko didn't mean to do what she did, and you think that if she knew what the machine was going to do she would have been more careful with the device?"

There was silence.

"Are you sure they didn't swap brains as well?" John asked Zelenka.

"Aww, thanks for thinking I have a brain Johnny." Kimberley grinned, and then shivered.

"Cold?" Carson asked her.

"Naa, just felt like someone was walking over my grave." Kimberley shook her head, then turned to stare at Dara as she made this 'I gotta GO' face. "Does my face go like that?"

"Usually." John nodded.

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "What's up D?"

Dara turned to her slowly and glared. "No. Just, no."

"Your idea?" Zelenka asked.

"Because we come from another reality, and because we have been transporting between two different Stargates, and because our brains were originally wired differently, maybe we were more susceptible than you guys." Dara pointed out.

Her idea met silence.

"Or we were the closest to the machine?" She offered with a small shaky smile on her lips.

"No, no, your idea is sound it's just- its sounded so much like Boyce I couldn't believe it." Rodney replied.

"Thanks." Dara smiled. "Hey!"

"Do we have to swap them back?" Rodney asked which caused everyone to turn and look at him.

"YES!" They cried at once.

"Not that I don't love being serious." Kimberley pointed out. "But I need my emotions. I feel like I'm going to become a serial killer here!"

"I can't want to get rid of these emotions!" Dara cried, a few tears leaking from her eyes. "It's really exhausting how chirpy you are, even when you just want to-"

"Okay stop over sharing." Kimberley clamped her hand over Daras mouth.

Dara glared at her. Then her eyes got a sparkle in them.

"Ew! disgusting!" Kimberley yelled, taking her hand back and wiping her jeans with them.

"I was going to say the same thing!" Dara replied.

"Will someone press that button before I lose it!" John demanded, causing Miko and Zelenka to jump for the button, pressing it.

Dara stopped rolling her eyes to stare straight ahead.

Kimberley paused her wiping her hand on her trousers to look at the ground.

A dull purple haze slowly seeped out of Kimberleys skin, the same time a bright gray color mist began to seep from Daras body.

The girls began mumbling to themselves, backing away into opposite walls in the room.

"No!" Kimberley moaned. "Nonononono!"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Dara yelled.

There hands flew to their heads and they gathered clumps of their hair, seemingly trying to pull them out.

With a gasp both girls looked to the ceiling and the mists flew back into their bodies.

Carson and Jennifer stepped forward and injected both girls with a sedative.

"So everything back to normal?" John asked.

"If the device doesn't have any after effects, then yes." Rodney nodded.

"So Dara will stop being an emotional wreck?" John added.

"Aye and mine will be less of a stone wall." Carson rebutted.

"Glad I don't have a girlfriend." He muttered, walking away from the two silently, openly glaring men.  
o0o  
A few days later, everyone was in the briefing room discussing their ongoing problem, Michael and his demands of complete ruling of every known universe and Teyla at his side.

"Any suggestions?" Woolsey asked.

'Talk to him!' Kimberley offered.

"He's a complete nut job, you can't talk to him." Dara snapped at her friend.

"Uh." Kimberley blinked. "Sorry?"

'It's worth a try!' Kimberley added.

"No it's not because he'll try and kidnap you again." Dara rolled her eyes and jabbed John with her elbow as a small smile appeared on his face.

"Okay, I know I didn't say anything that time." Kimberley replied with a yawn, and then blushed at Woolsey glaring at her. "Sorry, but Dara wouldn't stop talking to me last night."

John raised an eyebrow at that. "Dara was with me last night, and we didn't do much talking-"

'Lalalalalala!' Kimberley sang.

'Jeez you're such a child sometimes.' Dara snapped at her.

Kimberley stood up. "At least I'm not a cold hearted bitch!"

Everyone watched her glare at Dara, and then leave the room.

Dara blinked, and then turned with a frown to look at them all. "To the infirmary?"

They nodded.  
o0o  
To the infirmary they had went, and were now all had relocated to the briefing room. Kimberley had been tracked down and was now sitting with her arms crossed at the table, next to Carson, who continued to glance at her worriedly.

Kimberley glared at a spot in the wall. "Carson, can you tell Baldwin to stop telling me to 'burn them, burn them all!'?"

Carson looked at them both. 'I'm beginning to wonder which one is more nuts.'

"Does anyone know what is causing this?" Woolsey asked, more than a little weirded out.

"There are some energy signals coming from lab fourteen." Chuck popped his head in to tell them.

"So it's the psychology device again?" Dara asked, and then shook her head. "This is just some kind of fan girl experiment, isn't it?"

"How to we permanently turn the device off?" Woolsey asked, looking from the team members to consultants.

"Lets get it up here; hopefully we can figure something out if it's in front of us." John suggested.  
o0o  
Half an hour later Dara finally had enough. She grabbed the device and moved towards the staircase leading to the Stargate.

"Dial that gate!" Dara shouted out.

'You shouldn't do this; the experiment could be useful in the future!' Inner Kimberley told Dara.

'Keep him dialing! Divert their attention!' Inner Dara told Kimberley.

Kimberley closed her eyes and began breathed deeply.

"You all right luv?" Carson asked her.

"Too. Many. Voices." She breathed deeply, then put her head in her hands and bent double, trying to sort out her own thoughts from the dozen individuals running rampant through her head.

Everyone turned to look at her, leaving Dara free to chuck the device into the KAWOOSH of the event horizon.

Everything turned dark.  
o0o  
Kimberley groaned as she woke up, her head killing her. And Rodney shouting? Not helping matters much.

"I mean, do you realize what you could have done?" Rodney was secretly enjoying telling Dara off. "The machine could have made the swaps permanent, or killed you!"

"Ahem."

"Both! Killed you both!" He quickly added. "And then where would we be?"

Inside the infirmary, everyone looked at the human male before they chuckled.

Kimberley and Dara just shared a look before shaking their heads. 'At least THAT'S over with.'


	38. Change In Leader

Richard Woolsey stared at himself in the mirror of his temporary quarters aboard the Daedalus. He ran a hand over his uniform and turned his head, lifting a hand to brush away some lint from his shoulders and nodded to himself.

"Mister Woolsey, we are ten minutes from Atlantis." Col. Steven Caldwell voice came through his earpiece.

"Thank you Col. Caldwell." Woolsey responded and nodded before gathering his bags and headed to the door, placing his bags down just at the lip of the room then exited the guest quarters.  
o0o  
Samantha Carter placed the last photograph in a box before closing the lid and glancing around the room. Seeing nothing to add she picked up the half-full box and headed for a transporter, glancing around as she entered the command center area of Atlantis gate room.

"Sorry!" Kimberley exclaimed as she bumped into the base commander, eyes' going wide as the box Sam was carrying fell into the ground, the contents spilling out. Kimberleys legs flew in opposite directions, causing her to drop to her knees.

Sam bent down to help Kimberley pick up her things, glancing at the female. "Don't worry about it-what are those?"

"Inline skates." Kimberley replied, picking up a picture of Jack and Sam hugging on a date. "Since I don't like transporters I need a faster way of getting around. Are you moving offices?"

"No." Sam shook her head and smiled at the crazy ones response. "You could give them another try."

"They make me feel like I'm gonna up chuck." She made a face, and then frowned. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm being sent back home." Sam waited until Kimberley pulled herself before speaking. "The Daedalus is coming to pick me up."

"When?" Kimberleys face was a picture.

"Ten minutes, I'll be leaving an hour after that." Sam watched as Kimberley pulled herself up and headed to the mess hall, skating quickly. "Has she added to the infirmary yet?"

"Not yet." The gate technician grinned and shook his head. 'But the day is still young!'  
o0o  
"Scott! Scott! SCOTT!" Kimberley yelled as she sped into the kitchen, circling the chef as he blinked at her. "I need a goodbye cake for Col. C, quick!"

"Okay." Scott grabbed her arms and paused her. "I keep a few in the fridge just in case."

"Great!" She smiled, and then glanced around, looking for someone. "Davvy! John!"

John Malone and David Conway blinked as she skated to them, grinning like a fool. John spoke first. "Is this going to hurt?"

"Hope not." Kimberley grinned. "I need you to get the jello outta its hiding place."

"Sure thing Kimbo." Davvy nodded. "Where do you want them?"

"Col. Cs office." Kimberley replied and pushed off of them, skating towards her next destination.  
o0o  
Radek blinked as Kimberley zoomed by, blinking as she whizzed around everyone. He brought his attention back to the data pad and the diagnostics he was running before shaking his head and smiling at her insane antics. "Blázen skotského ženy."  
o0o  
Teyla took Torren from Kanaan and they touched heads lightly before he left for the jumper heading for the mainland. She blinked as Kimberley slammed into the puddle jumper at a great speed. Teyla walked over to her while Kanaan and Halling helped her to stand up. "Are you alright Kimberley?"

"Todd! Who put that jumper there!" Kimberley groaned, holding onto Halling with one hand while tugging off her light blue skates with the other. "Sorry going too fast. Hey guys, how are you? Did you know Col. C was leaving today?"

Halling looked to Teyla for a translation as Kimberley got her other skate off. Teyla shook her head.

"Well she's leaving today and we're having a 'see ya!' party for her in her office. Ya coming?" Kimberley asked.

"We have business to attend to at the main land." Kanaan replied.

"We shall attend." Teyla answered for her and Torren.

"Brill! Can you ask the bio and chem scis? Cheers!" Kimberley asked, waiting for Teyla to nod before she grabbed her skates and left.

"Did you understand that?" Halling as Teyla, who shook her head.  
o0o  
Daras image was grainy on the screen. "Sorry Kimberley, we can't come back yet, the inhabitants of the planet are having a meal in our honor."

"Just remember; if you get married to anyone, make it one of our guys." Kimberley smiled and waved good-bye to her as Chuck closed the connection. "Put me down for Ev causing some trouble."

Chuck shook his head. "You know the rules, Kimbo, no more bets from you."

'Damn it!' She pouted before nodding. "We ready to put the plan into action?"

Chuck nodded and pressed a button on his console before activating his earpiece, speaking with a tone of voice similar to Doctor Rodney McKay. "Col Carter, can you come to lab three, the idiots you call scientists from MIT have messed up. Again."

"Nice voice work." Kimberley commented. "Been practicing?"

"Maybe a little." He replied as Carter left her office cursing under her breath. "You better get to work."

"See ya Chuck!" Kimberley smiled and entered the office, face going sad at the lack of personal items that Sam had left to pack. Cracking her knuckles, she got to work.  
o0o  
Ronon watched as Sam walked down on of the corridors and nodded his head to her. "I thought you were leaving today?"

She nodded. "I was- am, but Rodney radioed-"

"McKay's off world." Ronon reminded her.

Sam stopped short. "Then who called me to lab three?"

Ronon shrugged and moved to walk with her. "Let's go find out."

Sam nodded and they headed for a transporter. Ronon motioned for her to enter first before glancing around before following suit.  
o0o  
Dara glanced at the food spread out in front of them and whistled. "Bet Ronons going to be sad he missed this."

"Yeah, itsh a gweat spwead." Rodney commented around the meat in his mouth.

Miko rolled her eyes at the head of science, eeping as John threw an arm around her shoulders. "Now that you're off the McKay band wagon and love train, I know the perfect man for you."

"Are you not with Miss Baldwin?" Miko blinked.

"Well yeah but-" John began.

"I will not play second stratavarious for any man, Col. Sheppard." Miko interrupted him, stepping away from the man.

Dara laughed and snagged a red grape and looked at it before popping it into her mouth. 'It better be seedless...oh, nice.'

John watched his girls friends face light up and made a mental note to add them to the trade agreement. 'I'm sure Rotella will be able to spare a bunch or five.'

Lorne looked around at the pretty girls and all the food and grinned. 'What a week for Ronon to get aappendicitis!'

One of the chieftain's daughters made move to dance with John, but one glare from Dara sent her scampering to pull Evans arm.

Evan grinned as he let her pull him away.  
o0o  
All members of the expedition, except for the skeleton staff, those injured looking after the ill or in the middle of an experiment and Kavanaugh gathered inside Carters office (and spilled into the hall).

"Ssh!"

"You shush, we've been cramped in here for half an hour, where is she?"

"Hopefully she isn't getting stuck in the transporters." Kimberley pondered from near the snack table, using one of Sams Bo staffs to knock wandering hands away from the food. "Paws off Mack!"

Mack rubbed the back of his hands and grumbled, nodding as he spotted Sams blonde hair next to Ronons dreadlocks. "They're coming!"

"Places!" Kimberley hissed, pushing Mack away and ducking behind Brent and holding Macks hands.  
o0o  
Sam frowned as she noticed the light in her office was off and no one was in the control room. She flicked the light on.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled several people popping party poppers in her direction.

"What is going on here?" Sam demanded, trying to cut an imposing image with streamers in her hair.

"Blame Kimberley." Mack called out, grinning as she let go of his hands to freak out in front of Sam, face falling as Ronon grabbed the peeps he was after.

"It's because you're leaving." Kimberley stated, shyly ducking her head to the ground, shoulders hunched in fear. Her eyes flicked upwards to look at Sams face. "I hope you don't mind, but we're going to miss you something awful!"

Sam smiled and hugged the younger female, whispering a thank you in her ear.

Everyone turned as Davvy and John entered, hair stuck everywhere and electricity bouncing off the tips. Davvy held up a piece offering as John spoke. "Jello anyone?"

Kimberley snorted in laughter as Scott began mumbling to himself about 'the missing jelly cubes' and broke from Sams hold to drag her to the cake. "Take a look before Ronon eats it."

Ronon hid his hunting knife behind his back and tried to look innocent.

Amelia waved a hand to cool her face down.

Sam smiled in thanks as she looked at the dessert, and the spread that had been put on for her.

"SPEECH! SPEECH!" Someone shouted and the others joined in.

Sam motioned for them to settle and she smiled. "Thank you Kimberley, Scott, for throwing me this wonderful party. I know I haven't been here that long but I am going to miss each and every one of you."  
o0o  
"Sir, no one is answering on base." Marks reported to Caldwell, who nodded.

"Send him anyway." Caldwell muttered.

Marks looked to him. "Sir?"

"Is there a problem Col. Caldwell?" Woolsey's voice filled their earpieces and Caldwell took a deep breath before looking to the technician.

"Send the good man on his merry way." He ordered, and then nodded his head. "Unless you wish to join him?"

"Just recalibrating the settings and reversing the polarity Mister Woolsey." Marks send the message and the man away, frowning as Caldwell passed him a plastic tumbler of something.

"I know it isn't protocol." Caldwell began. "But it's been a tough three weeks."

Marks nodded and gulped it down, sparing a thought to Atlantis, her inhabitants and the pain they just inflicted on them. 'May God have mercy on our souls.'

"PARTY AT MY QUARTERS!" Caldwell yelled in happiness, causing everyone to look at him.  
o0o  
Woolsey looked around, wondering where everyone was. 'No one is at their stations. Are things this bad? What is that noise?'

Woolsey allowed his ears to pull him in the direction of Col. Carter's office, where the smell of cake was filling the air. He found a small space at the back of the room and watched as Carter mingled around the room.

"Thanks for coming." Sam smiled to him, and then froze the same time someone - possibly Mack - shouted. "IT'S WOOLSEY!"

Woolsey frowned at how fast the room emptied, brow furrowing deeper as Kimberley continued to dance with the music. He then brought his attention to the old leader of the expedition. "As of...three minutes ago I have relieved you of your duty and command of Atlantis and her inhabitants."

Sam nodded, a red tinge falling across her face. "Good luck Mister Woolsey."

"Although I must ask why you thought it a good idea to hold a personal party while many of the expedition should be working?" He quirked a brow.

Sam opened her mouth to speak with someone else butted in.

"Actually, Mister Woolsey, that's my fault." Kimberley handed both of them a slice of cake and leant on the desk. "I knew Col. C was leaving, so I get everyone together. Col- Sam didn't have anything to do with this."

Sam blinked. "I thought one of the more, ah; senior members of personnel would have put this together?"

Kimberley shook her head. "Nope. They were all busy and when you told me an hour ago you were leaving-"

"You organized all of this in an hour?" Woolsey asked.

Kimberley nodded.

"Hmm." He replied. "Take a seat Miss Boyce, I want a word with you after Col C-I mean, Col. Carter and I finish discussing the state of the off world teams."

"Oh I can do that! Please?" Kimberley pleaded.

"What's the harm it could do?" Sam shrugged.

"Yes, quiet." Woolsey pulled a face before taking out a Dictaphone out of his pocket. "In your own time Miss Boyce."

"Well team one, minus Ronon who his appendix out, plus Dara and team two are on M9S-197, team three are still in the infirmary from Racdons bites, teams four, five and seven are on stand down. Teams six, eight and nine are on P8Q-981, 2 and 3 respectively looking at ruins and ancient cultures. Team ten is currently MIA, presumed GIA-" Kimberley paused as Woolsey frowned. "Genii napped in action. Twelve through fourteen are scouting the city, no new developments or dead plants, and teams fifteen are still in isolation."

Sam smiled to Kimberley as Woolsey blinked at her in shock. "Why are they in isolation?"

"There is a device on Brent and Peter that short circuits any tech near them, and the inhabitants of the planet it that put it on, MLP-239, say that will only happen once they kiss and make up. And apparently, if you believe Brent, they've been trying really hard." Kimberley replied, and then looked thoughtful. "Do you want to know about the scientists, doctors and others?"

"It seems that your reports on Miss Boyce were accurate after all." Woolsey stated after a silence.

Kimberley looked to Sam as she grinned.

"If that will be all Mister Woolsey, I have some last minute things to do?" Sam asked.

Woolsey nodded then turned to Kimberley. "May I have word with you Miss Boyce?"

Kimberley watched Sam leave enviously before nodding, plopping down into a seat, eyeing Woolsey.

"I have been told that you are the person to speak with to find out what is going to go 'down'." Woolsey made air quotes. "And I also wanted to ask you how Col. Carter made her selection process on who to send off world and who to share information with?"

Kimberley looked at him puzzeldly. "Sam had her own system. Every time we thought we figured it out she changed it."

He nodded. "And how do you know the goings on of the city so well?"

She shrugged. "I don't do much else. And people like to talk to me, and I hang out at the infirmary a lot."

"Ah, yes. Is this down to your numerous concussions or our relationship with the clone?" Woolsey asked and watched as she stood, eyes blazing.

"Pick on me, fine, but bitch on those that I care about - big mistake." Kimberley told him. "Carson may not be the original man that joined the expedition and died, but he has still proved himself to be a valued member of this team!"

"I take it you are referring to the Wraith Hive issue?" Woolsey waited for her to nod before continuing. "The majority of the work was done by Miss Baldwin and yourself - if you have not caught the sings quick enough Doctor Keller could be dead."

"Or worse." Kimberley muttered under her breath, frowning as a cheer filled the gate room before shaking her head.

Woolsey stood quickly and made his way to the command centre, looking to Chuck for an explanation.

"Teams one and two are an hour late for their check in, sir." The gate technician explained.

"How far away from the settlement are they?" Woolsey asked.

"Ten minutes, give or take a sprained ankle." Kimberley supplied.

"Thank you." Woolsey nodded to Kimberley. "Is there any chance they are simply being irresponsible?"

"If it was just John's normal team I'd say he'd shacked up with the chief's daughter and is afraid to come home and face Dara, but..." Kimberley trailed off.

"Prepare a search and rescue team." Woolsey spoke to Chuck, who paused and unconsciously looked to Kimberley.

"Call Lewis." Kimberley answered quickly. "It's about time he saw John and Evan in some compromising positions."

Frowning Woolsey asked. "What is going on here?"

"There is a high probability that one of the team has gotten married of is being made into a sacrifice." Kimberley replied. "Lewis, team seven, has the best negotiator this side of ever."

"What do you need a negotiator for?" Woolsey queried.

Kimberley half grinned, half grimaced. "The planets inhabitants enjoy a good argument. Win and they go home, lose and they take your left pinky."

Blinking Woolsey was momentarily stunned. 'Where is the emotionally highly strung young woman that thought about parties more than anything else?' "How dangerous is this planet?"

"Did you hear what I said about the pinkie?" Kimberley asked. "It's about a three on the 'eep' scale."

Not wanting to know what that entailed Richard Woolsey, newest leader of Atlantis, nodded to her. "Where do I suit up?"  
o0o  
"Excuse me?" Dara was sure she had wax in her ear. 'Must have!' "Did he just say Mister Woolsey was on his way here to represent us?"

Evan nodded and opened his mouth to speak, causing Dara to slap her hand over his mouth. "No! Not. Another. Word! It's you and your mouth that got us into this mess."

"How you doing?" John asked Miko, who turned her wide eyes from the men sharpening their blades to him, and squeaked. John grinned. "Don't worry; it gets easier with every kidnapping."

"You honestly think she's going to go off world with any of you again?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

John mulled it over. "Maybe?"

Dara slapped a hand to her face. 'Figures, he goes back for seconds with hair, but forgot to pick up his brain!'  
o0o  
Kimberley glanced as Woolsey, decked out in a suit, stopped beside her and handed him a shoulder holster and a gun.

He shook his head. "I don't use guns."

"Neither do I." Kimberley argued, clipping the holder to him. "But it's better to have it and not use it, then need it and not have it."

He nodded, fully intending to dump the gun before he stepped through the gate.

"And Ronon will be going with you to make sure you keep the gun and stay safe." Kimberley motioned for the alien to step forward.

Woolsey gulped.

Ronon smirked.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and pushed them towards the gate, frowning once they stepped through. 'Where are my skates?'  
o0o  
Dara looked around for the IOA lackey and frowned. "Where is he?"

"Seeing their docs." Evan explained as he threw a rock at Lewis, trying to knock the camera away from him.

"Why?" Dara wondered what had happened. 'He's only been off world for twenty minutes, tops!'

"Feel down the Stargate ramp." Ronon shrugged as he joined them.

Dara groaned and sunk to one of the wicker chairs. 'Bye, bye pinkie toe.'  
o0o  
Woolsey limped through the gate with the aid of Ronon and baulked at the "Welcome" banners, decorations and food behind the members of the expedition. He blearily looked around for the medical team but paused at the sight of Carson scolding Kimberley who held a skate clad ankle in pain.

His lips twitched into a smile as Carson spoke to Kimberley and she blushed, face looking as though she had been told to be careful but had not heeded the mans word. Carson bent down to help her stand, realizing at the last second she still had her skates on and she hit the floor once more.

He looked around the room as he leaned on the wall. From the corner of his eye, Woolsey spotted Ronon crossing the room to help Kimberley get her skates off and head to the infirmary.

Richard Woolsey nodded to himself. As homes went, this one won't be that bad.


	39. Creature From The Muddy Lagoon

John looked across the conference table at Dara and Kimberley, who were gesturing wildly at each other and at the pieces of paper on the table. Leaning over, to his left, he elbows Rodney. "What are they fighting about now?"

"Who's going on the mission with us," Rodney replied off handily. He compares some notes that Kimberley had given him about the Wraith Hive Ship shields. "They're trying to one up each other."

The leader of the off world group nodded, turned his attention back to the two females, moved forward, and listened to their conversation more closely.

"Wraith!" Kimberley waved her palm upwards towards Dara.

"Asurans," Dara adds, raising an eyebrow.

"Kolya." Kimberley sits back and crosses her arms.

Dara paused, drawing her eyes close before nodding. "Tyre."

"Ah." Kimberley nods then placed a hand on the table and drummed it. "Hybrids."

"Can't use them again," Dara says as she shakes her head.

"What are you two up too?" John interrupts.

Both girls swirl their heads around to look at him. "Working out who should go with you guys."

"By doing what? Naming all our advisories?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as Kimberley blushed.

"Nah, the ones that we know the most about," Dara replies.

"So, who wins?" Ronon asked, not moving from his spot at the wall.

"Dara," Kimberley groans, slouching on the table.

"Let's get you suited up." John smiled, pushing himself away from the table and clasped his hands together. "Just follow me Dara, I'll show you the ropes."

"But, I don't want to hang myself," Dara mutters, with only Kimberley and Rodney hearing her.

'Maybe she won't be another Kirkette!' He thinks, smiling to himself.

"Kimberley, what time are you available to go over the information, regarding this reality?" Mr. Woolsey asks, watching the youngest female on Atlantis, as she rolls her head to look up at him.

"When are you free?" she asks, bringing a black date book from her lap.

"Why do you have that?" Woolsey asks, motioning for the day planner.

"Dara knows so much about Atlantis, I'd only get a shot of winning this game if she has a concussion and is out of it." Kimberley sighs and sits up.

Woolsey looked confused. "Then why do you continue to play this game?"

"Because, it's either that or rock/paper/scissors." She grinned, mostly from an inside joke, making her mood lighter. "But seriously, I'm only available everyday this year."

Woolsey regarded the strange girl once more, before nodding, allowing himself to free his mind to making a possible new ally and friend.

oOo

Teyla had rescued Dara from John's tutelage and had shown her where the spare BDUs had been relocated to. After grabbing a pair of BDUs, a pair of boots, and a TAC vest, Teyla led her towards the locker room. Teyla waited outside for Dara to re-emerge.

Dara grimaced at the one-piece uniform, and then sighed. "Well, at least it's not worse than my old work uniform."

"Are you alright, Dara?" Teyla asked, knocking on the stall.

"Fine!" Dara shouted back, buttoning up the last button and putting on the shoes. She was momentarily stunned at the Velcro straps instead of laces. 'Wait, running for their lives, don't want to trip up.'

With one last pat down, Dara placed the TAC vest over her chest and opened the bathroom stall, smiling at Teyla. "Well, Tyra, what do you think?"

"My name is Teyla, you know that," Teyla said with a frown.

"Tyra is, it's ah, I'll explain later..." Dara trailed off, frowning mentally. 'Figures. The guys would only introduce her to football! I wonder if Kimberley has a few episodes on her laptop...'

Teyla nodded and the girls exited the locker room, heading back towards the gate room.

"Dara, just the person I wanted to see!" Jennifer Keller exclaimed, as the duo entered the gate room. "Are you coming for your pre-mission physical?"

"Don't have time for that, Doc," John replied, walking up to them with a spare P-90 in his hands. "Gotta gate out in the next ten minutes or else a solar novas going to knock us off course."

Dara rolled her eyes at his intentional misuse of the words, muttering the correct term under her breath.

"But-"

"I've already cleared it with Woolsey. She's free to go," John says as he cut her off. He hands Dara the Wraith stunner. 'She enjoys the guns a bit too much.' "You probably haven't shot anything this powerful, but-"

Dara doesn't say anything as she takes the stunner and begins to walk away.

'Women!' John thought, frowning at Dara's retreating backside. 'I just wanted to show her how to handle the weapon. Sheesh.'

o0o

Kimberley twirled the Stargate Command pen around her fingers, before jotting another name down on the long list.

Woolsey looked up periodically at the quiet female and remembered that it was supposedly out of character for her. "Are you alright, Miss Boyce?"

"Call me, Kimbo," Kimberley replied off hand, then looked up, face flushed. "Sorry, call me Kimberley, Mr. Woolsey."

Woolsey nodded. "You may call me Richard then."

"Uh, I'd rather not." Kimberley looked to the bits of paper and added another name. "I have an Ex by that name. Bit of a nut job."

"Call me Woolsey, then." He smiled, hopefully trying to assure her. "Everyone else does."

"Okay, W-man!" Kimberley grinned.

"Don't call me W-man," Woolsey said with a frown.

Kimberley continued to grin. "You are, so not what I figured."

"What are you working on?" Woolsey enquired, looking over at her sheets of paper.

"I'm working on writing everyone on the expedition, that I can remember, and how they die, or if they go evil kinevil on us. You know what I mean." Kimberley waved hand around, cracking her fingers.

"Shouldn't you be working on the 'episodes'?" Woolsey asked, moving his chair backwards and crossing the room to sit across from her.

"Shouldn't you be defeating all the Ori?" Kimberley returned. "Baby steps, Mr. Woolsey, baby steps."

Woolsey frowned, but nodded. Fixing his tie, he stands up. "I am on my way to the mess hall. Would you like to accompany me?"

Kimberley looks at the bits of paper with a title of each season on it and nodded. 'This is going to be a boring two years!'

oOo

On the other side of the catwalk, Dara was having the same thoughts. She listened as John Sheppard, head of military, explained what they were going to do on this mission. "It's a meet and greet. Not a meet and moan, not a meet and groan, and definitely," he glowered towards Ronon and Rodney, "NOT a time to piss off the natives. Get it? Got it? Good!"

"Who are we meeting?" Dara asked, sliding next to Teyla.

"A city of traders, who need medicines that we have, in exchange for more exotic and nutritional value, than what the planet of Earth has supplied its warriors," Teyla replied, standing behind John, as the gate was dialed.

"DARA!" Dara turned around, grinning at the sight of Kimberley waving to her. "GOOD LUCK!"

"Does she know we have an intercom?" John asked quietly in Dara's ear, when he bent down.

"Probably forgot," Dara whispered. "Wave back."

John waved and Kimberley beamed before turning to catch up with Woolsey. "Shall we?"

Dara nodded and stood in front of the now active wormhole. 'It's not like I haven't done this before, but this, this is the start, the REAL start, of our Pegasus adventure. Well. One small step for me, one giant leap for fiction writers with insane friends. With Woolsey here, everything is going to step up. And not in a good way.'

Taking a deep breath, Dara stepped through the gate, not looking back on the past, but stalking towards the adventure ahead.

o0o

Four hours later, the gate on Atlantis sprang to life, with Chuck accepting the IDC of Atlantis Team One. He drops the energy shield, then his jaw.

John Sheppard, one of the most powerful humans in the Pegasus Galaxy, stalked through the open wormhole. He was covered head to toe in black mud, feathers and something that looked suspiciously like bird droppings.

Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla emerged next, and then soon followed by Dara, bent at the waist. Her sniggers soon filled the large room.

Kimberley looked up from her seat on one of the middle steps, as John whirled around to glare at Dara.

"DARA BALDWIN!" He shouted, pointing a finger in her direction. Poop and goo went flying towards Rodney, who squeaked and ducked out of the way, showing Dara behind him. She had tears in her eyes from all the laughter. "When I tell you to leave everything Earth behind, I MEANT EVERYTHING!"

"I-I-I'm sorry John," Dara spoke quickly, trying to get her message out fast before she started howling again. "I didn't know the village pet loved chocolate."

"Really?" John's voice quieted, as he stalked towards her. "And to show that, you gave me your last Rolo?"

"I thought you would find it funny," Dara replied, walking backwards, hoping that the Stargate would let her go backwards. She cursed internally as it cut off.

"Oh it was, until it started HUMPING my BODY, after rolling in the local SWAP!" With each raised word, he stalked closer, taking two steps for everyone that the frightened female took. "Let me thank you for making my experience so, memorable."

"Nonono, you don't have to do that," Dara replied, turning and running, then cursing the closeness of the walls. "Sheppard, stay away from me! Sheppard! SHEPPARD! JOHN!"

"NO!"

A loud squelching noise could be heard throughout the gate room.

"Yeah, John, thank her!" Kimberley shouted, grinning madly at the display they made. 'They're acting like a couple in the honey moon phase- No bad image bad image bad image!'

"Oh, Kimberley." Kimberley looked up with a smile on her face, dropping it as Dara, covered in the same much as John stepped towards her. "Come give me a hug!"

'Crap.'


	40. Recurring Nightmare

"So how are you fitting in with everyone?" Baxter asked as Carson sat down on the chair in front of his desk.

"I'm fitting in fine son, feels like I've never left." Carson nodded to him. "Is this really necessary?"

"Well considering the fact that you are unable to disassociate yourself from the original Carson Beckett that died almost three years ago, and the Wraith clone that Michael created you to be to get back at Carsons friends and then Michaels own creators, it seems as though you do have some problems." Baxter stated, glancing up from his notes to gather Carsons reactions.

Carson frowned at the psychologist. "Huh?" 'Has he been taking lessons from a certain other Scot?'

"You are not the original Carson that joined this expedition, yet you acted like it when you returned." Baxter began. "You slipped right into a dead mans place without a blip. It makes certain leaders suspicious as to what Michael taught you."

"Michael didn't teach me anything except how to hurt innocent people with his deranged version of the Hoffian drug." Carson snapped.

"How does that make you feel?" Baxter asked.

"How do you think it makes me feel?" Carson returned.

"I don't know, that's why I am asking." He replied.

"I fell despicable, unclean, like I'm worse than Hitler." Carson told him. "Is that what you want to hear? How bad I feel?"

"No, I want to know why you feel that way." Baxter made a notation. "Does it have anything to do with the friends you adopted here on Atlantis? The mother you think you remember? The father that died from a similar disease when you were younger-"

"This session is over." Carson snapped again to the psychologist, standing and leaving the room without another word.

Standing outside he took a misstep as he spotted Kimberley sitting on the ground reading something from a notebook. He took a second to observe the female before smiling faintly.

"Hey Kimberley." Carson nodded to her.

"Hey Carson." She hugged him, and then looked up at his slightly sad face. "How was your time with Doctor B?"

"I'd rather face my supervisor back at the SGH." Carson sighed.

"Never mind, hopefully I can sweet talk or swing him into not talking with you next week." She grinned.

"Oh and how are you going to do that?" Carson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"By using my womanly wiles." She waggled her eyebrows.

Carson looked at her. Kimberley just shrugged. "Or I'll just keep him busy with my craziness."

"Now hen I don't hate the guy." Carson chuckled.

"So we meeting the gang?" She asked and they began heading for the mess hall.

"Well, we could do something else." He grinned and moved to capture her lips.

"Oh I'd love to Car, but if we don't meet the gang they're going to think we've ran off to Vegas to get hitched or something." Kimberley sighed.

Carson looked at her and smiled. "I wonder where they got that idea from."

"Not a clue. No sire bobby!" She shook her head backwards and forwards, grinning as he placed an arm along her shoulders and pulled her to him.  
o0o  
Carson laughed at what Rodney had just said, shaking his head as his friend looked at them all in wonder.

"What did I say?" He asked, and frowned as everyone started laughing even more. "Yeah, well, if this is how you're going to treat me I'm going to turn in."

"Night McKay." Ronon nodded to him.

"Good night Rodney!" Kimberley waved to him, leaning into Carson and yawning herself.

"Tired hen?" He asked, brushing a hand through her hair.

"Hmm, just a liiiitle." She smiled, straining to keep her eyes open. "I think I'm going to bed, you staying up or coming with?"

"I'll go with you." Carson smiled to her and helped her up.

"Night guys!" Kimberley waved to the group and waited for Carson to say his goodbyes before grabbing his hand, tugging him behind her as they headed for their room.

Inside the room, the duo quickly changed for bed. Kimberley slipped under the covers and turned so she was facing Carson. He spotted her watching him and grinned at her. "Enjoying the view?"

She hugged the pillow and smiled. "Immensely."

Chuckling Carson pulled the covers off the bed and slipped in, hugging Kimberley to him.

She returned the hug, then separated her limbs from him, moving to lie on her part of the bed and closed her eyes, one hand close to Carson's body.

Carson turned the lights off and pulled the covers over them, closing his eyes with a smile as they drifted off to sleep.  
o0o  
"Don't do this! Please!" One of the subjects screamed as two Wraiths held them down. "Plea-aarh!"

Carson looked at them apologetically as he injected them with the new Hoffin drug, trying to convey his sorrys over their tears and screams of agony.

"Your drug is becoming more potent." Michael said to him.

Carson didn't even turn around as he felt the hybrid stop beside him. "Aye."

"I think you deserve a treat." One of the hybrids moved forward at Michaels words, bringing forward one of the two girls he had met when he had went to the alternate Earth.

"Dara?" He asked, unsure if it was really she.

"Doctor Beckett?" She was shocked, looking at him through a black eye. "What are you doing with Michael?"

"I'm sorry hen I-" Carson paused as the hybrids threw Dara into a wall, the brunette sliding and turning to look at him with a dazed expression.

"Get back to work." Michael hissed as another test subject was brought in. "Or I will kill you."

Carson nodded, praying for more time, more time to fix his mistakes, for his team to rescue him, more time to escape from this hell.

The sack was ripped from the head of the female and Carson paled in anger at the sight of the other girl from Earth, Kimberley, face red with blood and fighting with the two wraith guards.

"Let go of me! You hear me you bastards! Let me go!" She thrashed around, and then paused as she spotted her friend. "Dara!"

"Try the new serum on her." Michael ordered.

"Please Michael." Carson turned to speak to him, turning his head as Michael backhanded him.

"Test the serum!"

Kimberley stared at him in horror as he took her arm and injected the drug into her system.

Carson watched as he body began changing color as it convulsed, the alarms in the area sounding loud in his ears as part of her seemed to tinge of fire, before her body began to glow.

"She's going to explode!" Someone yelled.

A fire consumed Carsons mind.  
o0o  
Carson jerked awake, sitting up on the bed. He tried to calm his breathing. After a while, his shakes reduced and his breathing became normal. He glanced at the clock and bit back a groan at the blinking time. '3.17.'

"Carson?" Kimberley asked, looking at him with sleep still controlling her head. "What's up? We being invaded?"

He let loose a humourless laugh before shaking his head. "No, I um, need to go, go back to sleep hen."

"Kay." She nodded and her head fell back onto the pillow, before she brought it up to look at him. "Everything okay?"

He paused to look at her, and then nodded slowly, bending over to kiss her forehead. "Aye, go back to sleep."

She nodded to him once more.

Carson left the too warm bed and pulled on a pair of trousers, looking around for a large shirt and shoved it on before grabbing his lab coat, swinging it on as he left their room.

After wandering for a while, he stumbled upon the archive room. When they had first arrived on Atlantis Carson could remember Rodney babbling on and on about the being one room that stored more than ten thousand years of data 'and took up too much damned energy'.

A fleeting thought rushed past his brain, did a U-turn and sat in the middle of his thought processes. After debating about it, Carson sat on the closest seat, and typed in a command slowly, locking the doors. He glanced around to double check there was no one in the room, then began scanning for videos of the date we was kidnapped by Michael and created.  
o0o  
Kimberley woke up with the urgent need to pee. After taking care of business, she looked over at the clock on the small table beside Carsons side of the bed, and then frowned. 'Where is Carson?'

She walked over to her side of the bed and grabbed the data pad that was sitting on it. After logging in she selected a program she had Chuck put onto it.

A quick number added to the search bar later she frowned at Carson location. 'Why is he in the video repository?'

Debating for a few seconds she quickly shoved some clothes on and put her hair up in a messy bun, slipping on her sneakers before jogging towards the video room.  
o0o  
Kimberley paused outside the room as she heard Carsons voice on the tape. "Thank you."

"STOP!" She yelled, jumping into the room, causing Carson to jump and pause the video. "What the HELL do you think you are doing?"

"Excuse me?" He asked, unsure what to do.

"What are you doing? In here? Watching that video-what?" Kimberley rambled, stepping forward and slammed her first on the consol, watching as the computer froze with Carson turning away from the bomb disposal man. Tears came to her eyes. "Why?"

"What's wrong?" Carson asked, stepping out of the chair to hold her.

Kimberley stepped away.

"Kimberley?" Carson raised his hands towards her.

"Don't." She glared at him. "Just - don't watch that video."

"I want to know what happened." He told her.

"No, no you don't." She shook her head. "Listen to me Carson, listen. If you watch that you'll be having more nightmares than what you're having just now."

"You know about them?" He asked, shocked that she hadn't said anything.

She nodded.

"I need to know." He spoke after a silence. "I need to know what happened to me, to him."

Kimberley bit her lip. "You don't need a video for that. This is just torturing your self."

Carson frowned at her.

"I can tell you, frame by frame, word by word, millisecond by millisecond what happened to you." She struggled to keep her voice in tact.

"Was it that bad?" His face turned sad.

"It was-was horrible." She stepped forward and hugged him as tears fell from her eyes. "Oh God, Carson you-you burned. You saved the guy and you still burned!"

"Shh hen, it's all right, I'm here, I'm right here." Carson held her close.

Kimberley tightened her hold around him. "Please don't watch it Carson."

"I-" He paused.

"At least, not alone." She added.

"I can't ask you to watch it with me." Carson shook his head and looked down at her.

She let loose a deranged bark of laughter. "I've seen it that many times I can recite it in my head."

"Why did you watch it so many times?" Carson wondered, pulling away slightly.

She took a breath and looked up at him. "I was hoping someone had beamed you away. That you had been saved at the last second. That you weren't d-dead."

"But am no. I'm right here." He pressed a kiss to her crown and sighed deeply.

"You still want to watch it, don't you?" Kimberley asked from his chest.

He nodded.

"On one condition." Kimberley spoke as she made her way to the console, dragging a second chair and popping it next to the first. "After this, you go and see Baxter."

"Kimberley, it's like 4 in the morning!" Carson tried to get out of it.

"And he's up." She shrugged.

"How do you know his schedule?" Carson asked, curious to the high heavens.

She grinned at him. "Do you really want to know?"

Looking at her face, Carson shook his head.

Kimberley sat on the second chair, and then motioned for Carson to sit on the first. She rewound the tape slightly before grasping Carson's hand. "You don't need to watch this. You really, really, really don't need to watch this."

"Aye." He nodded. "I do."

'Why can't he say that at a wedding? Preferably mine!' Kimberley sighed and then shook her head mentally; she had to be strong for him, this could be emotional.

"Thank you." Carson spoke to the bomb technician as he handed over the explosive tumour in the organ container box.

Breathing a sigh of relief he turns and begins to walk away, bringing his left hand to his ear, knowing that the bomb tech was doing his job and sighed into the earpiece. "I've just made the hand off-"

The bomb exploded.

Carson took two steps before the flames engulfed him swallowing him whole.

The camera cut off.

Carson felt the hold on his hand tighten and he tore his eyes away from the static screen to look at Kimberley, who had tears in her eyes.

He debated for a second before nodding to himself. "Let's go back to bed."

Her eyes flashed. "You said you would talk to Baxter!"

"If I needed to. I know that he was me, but he wasn't." Carson lifted his left hand to cup her face. 'It's touching and slightly scary that she can care so much without know a single thing about anyone.' "He was more like an alternate reality version of myself."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to Mel?" Kimberley asked.

"Mel?" Carson quirked a brow.

Kimberley grinned slightly. "He's trying to get a new nickname, or any kind of nickname going."

Carson laughed slightly and shook his head. "What I have in mind doesn't involve talking."

She frowned, trying to figure out what he meant, when he decided to bend down and whisper into her ear.

Her face erupted into flames and she giggled.  
o0o  
Hours later Carson lay in their bed, his mind ticking over. The image of the bomb gong off replayed in his mind over and over again.

Kimberley shuffled in her sleep, a warm arm circling around his waist, her head burrowing into his side before she sighed, her hot breath ticking his skin.

Carson looked down at her and carefully brushed some hair from her face, smiling as she smiled in her sleep before she started snoring.

Chuckling softly Carson looked around the room and at the sun light peeking through the blinds, and for the first time felt that even though Michael was one evil, sick, twisted son of a gun, he had done something right by cloning him.

At least now he had a chance of happiness, a chance to help his friends and, thanks to the serum injections he received, help out with those affected with the Hoffian drug with less effects to him self.

"Carson, you're thinking too loud!" Kimberley snapped at him and her hand trailed upwards, playing with the side of his neck before her fingers stretched around his throat and pulled him down. "No more thinky."

"Yes ma'am." Carson agreed, lying down and closing his eyes, sighing in contentment as Kimberley placed her head on his chest, nightmare less sleep claiming them.


	41. Crumens

It was a normal day for Atlantis. Two teams had been returned from being captured off world, labs eight and twelve had small explosions and the infirmary was busy dealing with the fall out.

Which made the mess hall all the better for one scientist.

Rodney walked along the food selection area of the mess leisurely, taking his sweet, sweet time. There were no jar heads moaning behind his back, scientists trying to ask him pathetic questions he was able to answer before the fifth grade, and a certain doctor-loving individual was not in the room.

It wasn't that Rodney didn't necessary like the other strange alternate earthling, it was that she wouldn't let him play and experiment with her bag.

'How that thing can hold so many things is unbelievable!' Rodney thought as he sat his tray down on the usual table the team usually sat at, and crossed his legs under the table once he sat down, frowning as he kicked something.

Bending down he looked confused at the sight of Kimberleys zebra Pauls Boutique bag sitting under the table, then grinned slowly.  
o0o  
Radek watched amusedly as Rodney raced through the corridors, looking as though he hoped no one would notice him, and scurried off to his lab.

The Czech shook his head before walking in the opposite direction.  
o0o  
Rodney dumped the contents of the bag on the desk, moving bits of his paper around to pile the amount of stuff onto the table.

Ronon walked past the scientists office and doubled back, watching the scientist with confusion. "What are you doing with a woman's bag?"

"Trying to figure something out." Rodney replied, not looking up and then froze, looking up slowly and breathed out as he looked at Ronon. "Oh, it's just you."

Ronon raised an eyebrow.

"I'm looking to see how much space is actually in Kimberleys bag." Rodney explained, shaking the bag one more time to make sure everything was out.

"Need any help?" Ronon heard himself offering. Hey, he was kinda curious as to what weapons that thing could hold.

"Give me the measuring tape." Rodney snapped his fingers towards a workbench.  
o0o  
Dara eyes Kimberley as she looked over the banister quickly. "You gotta pee?"

"What? No." She replied, turning to Dara with a look of a deer caught in the headlights. "Why? Do you think I should go to the bathroom?"

"Do I think-I think you need to go to the infirmary and get some drugs." Dara replied. "You've been jumpy since we before we went to training."

"Breakfast!" She suddenly said, then blushed. "I mean, we should go get some lunch. Nothing better to calm the nerves after getting your feet handed to you than something to munch."

"We're supposed to be meeting Woolsey in ten minutes." Dara reminded her.

"Lunch'll take five, c'mon." She ran over to a transporter and waited for her.

Dara stared at her. Then pressed her earpiece. "Chuck, can you tell Woolsey I've taken Kimberley to the infirmary? And let them know I'm coming."

"Why are we going to the infirmary?" Kimberley asked and Dara entered the alien elevator.

"Where are you?"

"In Atlantis?"

"Smart ass." Dara rolled her eyes and motioned to the room.

"Oh, well, I figured it would get us there faster!" She replied and smiled widely. "What?"  
o0o  
The two girls entered the infirmary as were greeted with a flurry of activity. Carson took Kimberley by the crook of her arm as Jennifer set up the medical tests. A few nurses disappeared to get a set of clothes for her to change into and two of the marines stood beside her, flanking her in case she decided to run away.

"I'll be back in ten." Dara nodded to Carson, who was shocked at how much Kimberley was trying to run from the infirmary, from him.

She left the infirmary and decided to head to Rodney's lab, seeing as how Kimberley must have something in her that was affecting her behaviour may be airborne. 'And he probably caused it.'  
o0o  
Woolsey entered the infirmary and looked around for any of the two girls. Finding none of them, he made his way to the doctor's office and knocked on the door.

Carson opened the door, his face flushed and hair dishevelled.

"Am I...interrupting anything?" Woolsey enquired.

"No, no. I came in here to uh, compose my self." Carson explained and opened the door fuller. "Why don't you come in?"

"Thank you." Woolsey nodded and entered. "What is the situation with Miss Boyce?"

"We're not too sure. We haven't found anything in her blood work, there's nothing in the MRI or CT scans." Carson sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. "We tried to distract her to calm her down but, nothing."

"What kind of distractions? Does the girl require drugs in order to focus?" Woolsey was debating whether or not it was such a bad thing. 'One more reason to request she leave and never come back.'

"No, no." Carson smiled slightly. "I was the distraction. It works for a bit and then, it was like her mind snapped back to whatever the problem was."

"And what is the problem?" Woolsey asked.

"She isn't saying, but she wants to go off world to the last planet she visited." Carson explained. "I've already sent word to Brent Cole, who's currently there, to keep an eye out for any mind altering items that might be brought back."

"I see." Woolsey nodded. "Is she coherent?"

"Aye. Kinda, see, that's part of the problem." Carson motioned for Wolsey to come with him to one of the hidden infirmary rooms. Opening the door Woolsey could hear Kimberley demanding to be let out, that nothing was wrong, everything was fine, she had something baking and Atlantis would burn down if she didn't get back to it like ten minutes ago.

Woolsey looked disturbed. "I thought she stopped taking lessons from Chef Rotella once the marshmallow incident calmed down?"

"It's just a plot to be released." Baxter appeared beside the duo, a clipboard in one hand. "She's been using diversionary tactics for the past ten minutes. I am almost inclined to let her go to see where she goes."

"Why is she in here?" Woolsey was confused.

"She tried to use the transporters, and according to Dara she has been 'jumpy' since this morning." Baxter explained.

"Transporter? As in one of the ones within Atlantis?" Woolsey's brow furrowed deep. "Keep an eye on her and if all tests come back clear then release her, but keep a three man detail on her."  
o0o  
Kimberley blushed as she glared at Carson, who handed her back her clothes.

"I am sorry about all this hen, but you have to admit you have been acting strange lately." He apologized.

"Yeah, but you dinny av tae nick ma claes!" She shot back and stomped off to his office to get changed, slamming to door shut behind her.

John whistled as he walked in with Mack who was supporting a twisted ankle. "Trouble in paradise doc?"

"Not bloody paradise, it's like living in the east end!" He replied, and then turned around.

"What?" John was confused.

Carson sighed and half smiled at John. "She's a female son, and one from Glasgow. Half the time she doesn't make sense, and one week of the month she makes about as much sense as finding the sun cold."

"That what you're blaming all this on?" John asked.

"No, she's lost something." He paused as Kimberley slammed the door open and stormed out of the room. "Don't know what, but either it's important to her, or if someone finds it there will be hell to pay."

John nodded and once he unloaded Mack to the nurses, decided to follow her at a distance.  
o0o  
Dara paused outside her room and wondered where Rodney was. He wasn't in his lab, Radeks lab, the infirmary, mess hall, computer room, command room or trying to mess with her puddle jumper.

As she was about to push off the wall Kimberley came out of the nearest transporter and stopped for a breath, the nausea passing. "You okay?"

"I hate that thing." She muttered to herself.

Then looked up.

"Hey Dara!"

"Don't hey Dara me, what's going on? I left you in the infirmary. Did you escape?" She accused.

"No, they let me go." Kimberley rolled her eyes and stepped towards the room, hand on the wall to keep her balance.

"What's wrong?" Dara out and out asked her friend and corralled her into sitting on the couch. "Tell me or I swear to Woolsey I will show Carson your computer screen!"

Kimberley sat down on the couch with a thump and stared at her friend. "You wouldn't!"

Dara just looked at her. "Don't tempt me."

"I can't find my bag." She muttered through her hands.

"What did you say?" Dara couldn't believe her ears. 'All this over a bag! Wait-'

"I think I left my bag either in the mess hall, training rooms, my room or off world." Kimberley fearfully looked up.

"What was in the bag?" Dara was starting to regret asking when Kimberley took a deep breath.

"My playing cards, notebooks, laptop, phone, iPod, some of Ronons daggers, maps of Atlantis I've been working on because this whole place is so bloody confusing." She paused. "I think I might have left my zat phone in there too."

Dara stared at her, noticed her right eye twitching, and left the room.  
o0o  
Rodney quickly shoved the stuff into the bag, frowning as half of it remained left outside and the seams looked ready for bursting. "This can't be right."

Quickly he emptied the bag, then turned it onto its side and began stacking all the items by size and type, then shoved them into the bag, frowning as he fit even less into it this way.

"Let me have a try." Ronon demanded, emptying everything out of the bag and them looked at it, before placing the bag at the end of the table, just under the lip edge, and began sweeping the stuff into the bag with his other arm.

"Almost." Rodney nodded, motioning to the few remaining items. "How are we going to get the rest of the stuff in?"

Ronon looked at the remaining items and frowned.

Rodney watched as he placed the bag on the floor, and then widened his eyes as Ronon raised a foot and aimed it above the bag. "Don't break the bag or Kimberley will break me!"

"Kimberleys going to break who now?" Dara asked as she walked into the room. "What are you guys doing with Kimberleys bag? She's going crazy trying to find it; she thinks she left it off world."

"Why would she have it off world?" Rodney had to ask.

Dara did a palms up. "It's Kimberley."

"Well I'm just trying to put everything back in. It er, fell open." Rodney explained.

"Uh hu." Dara raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to help me or not?" Rodney demanded.

"I don't know...it IS kinda fun watching Kimberley run about like a headless chicken." Dara grinned. "She's actually hiding in her room now, too scared in case Woolsey notices she doesn't have her bag."

'Knew she was evil.' Rodney 'ahh'ed in his head.  
o0o  
John knocked on the girls common room door and waited for one of them to answer. As no one did, he shrugged and radioed Chuck to open the door.

Entering the common room John looked around, unsure where the girls where, but his mind took stock of what was in the room.

There were two couches and a coffee table. A computer screen and two stand computers sat near it. Two laptop bags lay beside it, and John moved over to unplug one of them that had a green light for fully charged. 'Laptop must be Boyceys.'

The silence from within the room was deafening. John walked over to the door on the left and knocked. After getting no response, he knocked again. Turning around he crossed the room and went to Kimberleys door, figuring she would know where the earpiece less Dara was at.

Knocking the door caused it to swing open. John poked his head in and whistled.

It seemed like everything that Kimberley owned was on the floor. Every box was upturned and empty, drawers were sitting on the bed, makeup was scattered everywhere.

'She finally going home?' He wondered and pressed his earpiece. "Boyce, this is Sheppard."

"Crap." He heard from under the bed. There was movement and the large pile of clothes shifted to reveal an obviously stressed Kimberley. "Uh, hi Col. Sheppard. What can I help you with?"

"I was looking for Dara, but you look like you're looking for something." John figured he could be nosy and helpful at the same time. "Need some help?"

"Naa, I've got it covered." She tried to smile and push some of the crap under the bed without him noticing.

"What have you misplaced?" He asked.

"Nothing!" She replied quickly.

John gave her the look.

"It's nothing, just a-a girl thing." She came up with and looked at him like a sister would her brother. "And I couldn't ask you to help me with something like that."

"A-oh, right, you seen Dara?" John quickly changed the subject.

"She said she was going to look for you, or Ronon." Kimberley thought about it. "It was either for a flight in the jumper or a sparring lesson, something like that."

"Uh, thanks Boyce." John nodded and went to leave.

"Col. Sheppard?" She called as he got to the lip of her door.

Slowly he turned around, not wanting to waste precious minutes. "Yeah?"

Kimberley bit her lip. "You don't have to call me by my last name all the time you know."

"I know." He replied and left the room.  
o0o  
Dara stood with the best minds of two galaxies and shook her head. 'All this to fill one female bag back up?'

Kavanaugh had joined the group several minutes ago and was close to being pitched out the window. "I mean, how hard is it to fill a bag? I knew you lot got your degrees from a Cracker Jack box, but still!"

"Why don't you give it a try?" Ronon thrust the bag in his face, and nodded to the items on a workbench.

Kavanaugh took the bag and smirked at the alien. He lined up each item by size, then weight, and then began to put the things in. After a few minutes, there was nothing left on the bench. "Ha!"

"Wait for it." Bill Lee commented to Dara, and she watched as Radek, Rodney and Ronon stepped away from another bench full of items.

Kavanaugh looked at the already full bag, then the items, and his face fell. "Ah."  
o0o  
An hour later Kimberley had exhausted her search. No one in the mess hall recalled seeing her bag, there was nothing in the training rooms and asking Chuck to let her call Brent off world was a big no-no if she didn't want anyone to know what she had lost.

A light bulb went on above her head. "Chuck, can you track my movements this morning till I went to the training rooms?"

"Sure." Chuck brought up the security feed from outside the girls common room and they sat in silence as she walked with Dara from the room, to the puddle jumper in the second bay, before heading to the mess hall for breakfast.

They watched as the security camera had the image of them sitting down and Kimberley putting her bag on the floor. They left, and ten minutes later Rodney entered, then he left.

The image fizzled with static, and the next frame showed her bag was missing.

'Someone beamed my bag?' Kimberleys face was unsure to be furious, or mortified. "How could someone just take my bag?"

"So you lost your bag?" Woolsey asked from behind her, causing Kimberley to jump and turn around.

Fearfully Kimberley nodded her head.

"On Atlantis or off world?" He pursed his lips as she bit hers. "Oh you don't know my...well."

"I didn't mean to!" She almost cried.

"You don't mean to do a lot of things, do you Miss Boyce?" The older man asked. "If you have misplaced your bag somewhere on Atlantis, it will be found."

"What if it's off world?" She asked quietly.

The gate sprung to life.

"Then I am afraid disciplinary action will have to be taken." Richard sighed.

"I'll find it!" Kimberley nearly screeched. "I know it was in the mess hall and them, I dunno, someone beamed it off Atlantis."

"Kimberley." Dara shouted from near the Stargate, Brent holding her bag with a look of confusion on his face. Dara turned and glared at the military man, who nodded as though he was accepting a mission. "Brent found your bag."

"But-the-the footage showed it was in the mess hall!" Her mouth gaped, looking at Dara, Brent, John, Chuck and Woolsey. "I can remember bringing it back, I swear I can!"

"Oh, that was a few days ago footage." Rodney explained from behind her.

"I think we should take this to my office." Woolsey nodded and motioned for Kimberley to enter first, glancing at Dara to see how she wanted to play this out.

"She just needs to be more careful with her things, that's all." Dara reminded Woolsey.

"How much trouble should we make her think she is in?" John asked.

"What's she in trouble for?" Brent asked, still holding the bag in his hands.

"Miss Boyce is very absent minded." Woolsey began.

"That's putting it mildly." John grumbled to Dara, then winced as she elbowed him.

"Ahem." Woolsey got their attention and they paused, looking to him and then to the petrified girl who was sitting the office close to tears. "We will simply need to remind Miss Boyce that she can not take sensitive materials off world, and if she must do so, if she leaves them then she is putting her place in this expedition in jeopardy."

"Now hold on Mr Woolsey." Dara raised a hand to him. "You remember that talk we had a few months ago?"

Richard nodded. "I am well aware of the memory. However, Miss Boyce seems to work well with scare tactics and this is one that should hopefully work with her forgetfulness."

John frowned. "Don't er, don't scare her too much."

Woolsey regarded him strangely then nodded, entering the room first and everyone else followed suit.  
o0o  
An hour later the group left Woolseys office, Kimberleys face worryingly pale. After checking her bag she had noticed that one of her notebooks was missing, but had lied to everyone when they asked if everything was in it. 'Oh man, what the HFIL am I going to do?'

"There you are Kimberley." Kimberley turned to look at Radek, who held her misplaced notebook in his hands.

Kimberley smiled then did a double take. 'I'm starting to get dizzy-is that my notebook?'

Radek handed it to her. "Rodney left this in the lab."

"Rodney-lab-" Slowly she turned to stare wide eyed at the physicists, who began squirming in the spot. 'He's been standing there as John and Woolsey ripped me a new one over loosing things off world?' "MCKAY!"

Dara and Evan paused as Rodney ran past them, a Wraith stunner shooting after him. A thud alerted them to him going down, and slowly Kimberley walked up, a stunner in her hand.

They exchanged a look as Kimberley stopped beside Rodney and smirked.


	42. Reluctant Allies

"So what happened to you?" Jennifer asked Kimberley as she walked into the infirmary with the aid of Ronon.

"I fell down the stairs." Kimberley grinned. "I come to Atlantis, spar with aliens, then I trip down a flight of stairs."

"She also hit her head." Ronon added.

Jennifer frowned. "_Another_ concussion?"

Kimberley nodded.  
o0o  
Ronon entered the infirmary and knocked on the doorframe. "You ready to go?"

Kimberley nodded and stood up slowly, grabbing the crutches from the bed as she hobbled over to him trying to ignore Jennifer as she entered with a wheel chair.

Kimberley blushed. "That ain't for me."

"Will you use the transporters in stead?" Jennifer argued.

Sighing Kimberley moved to the wheel chair and plopped down on it. "Atlanteans; roll out!"

Ronon looked to Jennifer, confused.

Jennifer rolled her eyes but smiled. "She's in your care now Ronon, get her to her room safely, ya hear?"

Ronon nodded and grasped the handles, pushing Kimberley out of the infirmary.  
o0o  
"You need any help?" Ronon asked as Kimberley wheeled herself over to the bed and moved the covers over. "Like changing clothes or anything?"

"Nono, no, I'm fine." she shook her head, waiting for him to leave.

Once he did, she put her hands on her chest of drawers and pushed herself up. Her good leg pushed the wheel chair backwards, and then she hopped sideways, flopping onto her bed. With a soft smile, she brought up her legs and then sat them down, pulling the covers over her and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off.  
o0o  
Dara sat outside her old room, waiting for Kimberley to get up. After a few minutes, she walked over to the bedroom door of her friend and knocked. "You alive in there? C'mon, we're meeting Woolsey in an hour; I want to get something to eat!"

Silence met her.

"Kimberley, if you don't get out of there in two minutes I'm coming in." Dara waited for five minutes and began opening the door. Hearing no protests Dara frowned, and then flicked on the light.

She spotted the wheel chair, and then Kimberley lying on her bed. "Get up lazy!"

The older one moved to grab the clothes the younger one had set out the night before and threw them at her friend, then crossed the room to open the blinds. "Hey why aren't you in yours and Carson's room?"

Not getting an answer Dara rolled her eyes, opening the window. "Had a fight with your medicine man?"

Still not getting an answer Dara turned to look at her friend, and then paused, as she didn't hear her snoring, or breathing. "K-Kimberley?"

Quickly she rushed to her friend, pausing at the glassy eyes stating at the ceiling. "C'mon Kimberley this isn't fun-"

Dara stopped as she touched her freezing neck, and then noticed the blood trailing down her nose and ears.  
o0o  
"Kimberley died approximately 6 to 8 hours ago." Jennifer reported.

"Cause of death?" Woolsey asked.

"We won't know for sure for two weeks, but preliminary results suggest that it was due to her latest concussion." Jennifer replied.

"How did she get a concussion?" Woolsey spoke to John.

"She wasn't in training, not till next week." He explained.

"What did she do yesterday?" Woolsey asked.

"She hung about with me all day." Ronon spoke suddenly. "I was training some marines and she was watching, then we went for lunch. She bumped into someone and fell down the stairs."

"They came to me and I treated her leg, then her head." Jennifer picked up. "She stayed in for a few hours observation, and then went back to her room."

Dara snorted. "So she was killed by a concussion? I don't believe that!"

"Dara." John began.

"No!" She yelled and stood up. "We are in the lost city of Atlantis, in another galaxy, in another reality, and have about a dozen different bad guys breathing down our necks, and she dies of a CONCUSSION!"

"That is enough Miss Baldwin." Woolsey spoke directly to her. "Unfortunate as it is, Miss Boyce's cause of death was a natural occurrence. While sad, it is not a reason for you to treat other members of the expedition like this."

Dara looked down at the table, and then looked at them. "How do we know its Kimberley?"

"Excuse me?" Woolsey looked at her confused.

"Think about it, how many times have you thought someone was someone only to find out that they are in fact someone else?" Dara pondered.

Everyone paused, and then turned to look at John.

John nodded, and then noticed the looks. "What?"

"She's your girlfriend, what does she mean?" Rodney answered for the collective.

"I think she means this Kimberley." He motioned for the one that was sitting in a body bag. "Isn't the real Kimberley. That someone has taken her and left an imposter in her place."

"What, you mean like a clone?" Carson asked, and then felt a bit silly for doing so.

"Exactly!" Dara threw her hands up. 'For a bunch of smart people, they do miss the bleedin' obvious.'

"I'll run a check." Jennifer replied, already moving to leave the room.

"Now the next question is." Woolsey gathered all attention to him. "Who took Miss Boyce, and why?"

John groaned. "And what has she told them."

Dara smacked his arm. "She doesn't always tell everyone everything!"

"True, she didn't tell me about how the series ended." John nodded.

Dara looked at him like just told her he slow danced with Todd. "You asked her about the series!"

"We talk about it all the time!" He defended himself, jumping up to hide from her arms.

"When I'm there to stop her telling you guys anything and everything that will make your heads hurt!" Dara returned, standing to glare at him. "You know she needs a translator."

"Needed." Jennifer replied as she walked in, sadness once again on her face. "I'm sorry Dara, but-but she isn't a clone."

"What?" Dara asked, eyes flying between the doctor and the thing lying in the autopsy room. "Do it again, you did it wrong. You did the test wrong!"

"I ran it three times Dara, and Carson double checked my work." Jennifer looked to the Alternate Earthling and the cloned man. "It really is Kimberley in there. She really is dead."

Dara stared at her for a second, and then nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" Everyone looked at her.

"Okay." Her mouth quivered for a second, and then she coughed and steeled her face. "Kimberley is- she's dead. She's not coming back. She wouldn't want me, us, anyone, moping about her."

"Kimberley was-"

"A pain in the ass, a really good friend and now a few days away from being in the ground." Dara cut Woolsey off. "Now if you don't mind, I need to go get something's ready and contact her parents. They'll want to organize her funeral or something."

"Dara-"

"And I need to do it alone." Dara glared at John. "If her family sees or here you, they will ask questions that I can't answer."

Woolsey nodded. "If you need anything-"

"Don't worry, I won't." She replied and left the room.  
o0o  
"Hey Dara, when's Kimbo getting out of her bed?" Brent Cole jogged up to her and grinned. "Or is she still out of it from hanging with her doc too much?"

"Eh, Brent, over here man!" Mack tried to intervene, spotting the look of 'talk to me and die' on Daras face.

"Don't tell me she's stuck in the infirmary again!" Brent grinned, shaking his head. "That broad is in there more times than Col. Sheppard with the local priestesses!"

"Brent, knock it off!" Mack hissed at him.

'I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.' Dara thought to herself, then stopped, letting the two men catch up to her. "Kimberleys dead."

Mack ran into Brent, who stopped walking instantly. "What?"

"She died last night." Dara shrugged. "Now, I gotta go tell her parents."

Brent and Mack looked at each other, then the back of Dara as she walked away, her head held high.

"What?" They asked each other, turning to leave the hallway and find out what the hell was going on.

"What's going on?" Brent asked Mack.

"No idea." Mack shook his head. "I've been calling Miss Boyce all morning but got no response."

Radek paused as he walked by. "I take it you two have not heard the bad news?"

'I don't like the sound of this.' The two Americans shook their head as Radek began to break the sad news.  
o0o  
Rodney stared at the girl lying on the slab. Everyone had gone back to their business but Carson was continuing to sit beside Kimberleys still form, tears in his eyes.

'It's not like I have anything else to do!' He thought to himself. 'And it's not like she's going any where.'

Ronon entered the room, catching the attention of the doctor and physicist. "Woolsey wants to know if you're any further forward on the Hoffin report."

"Since when are you his dog's body?" Carson snapped.

Ronon stared at him.

"Why did ye no taik her ae oor room fur?" Carson demanded, standing up and knocking the chair to the ground as he stared at the Sedetan.

"She wanted to go to her room." Ronon replied.

"If she went to oors then she'd still be alive!" Carson stated hotly.

"She didn't want to go there." Ronon shook his head, and then glared at the medicine man. "You think I wanted her dead?"

"Well you sure didnae dae a gid joab a keein hur alive!" Carson replied.

"Whoa you two." Jennifer jumped between the two males as they crept towards each other. "None of this fighting is going to bring Kimberley back. And if you remember her beliefs, you're disrespecting her right now."

Carson slumped backwards onto another chair. "I'm right. Sorry Jennifer."

"Don't apologise to me." She told him, and then turned to Ronon. "Well?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Apologise to him!" She demanded.

"Sorry." The two replied at the same time.

"Now hug." She nodded her head.

They looked at her like she was crazy.

"HUG!" she raised her voice. 'If Kimberley is watching this, she should be rolling about in hysterics.'

"You, erm, okay?" Rodney asked her, stepping around the two hugging males to speak with her.

Jennifer nodded sadly. "How are you holding up?"

"Me?" He looked a little shocked. "What makes you-?"

"Don't be such a man Rodney." Jennifer gave him a look. "We know you cared for her, even just a little bit. Why else would you invite her to your lab before dinner?"

"Eh, to remind me to eat? To translate some Ancient?" He was so confused. "Sure I liked Boyce a little, but her passing isn't going to have such an affect on me."

"Then why are you still in this room?" Jennifer questioned.

Rodney sighed. "Because Carson needed someone to sit with him."

"And before Carson was here?" She asked. "When Carson came in to find you whispering to Kimberley?"

"I-I was-" Rodney paused, and sighed. "Okay, so she was like a fungus okay!"

Jennifer waited.

"And Kimberley wouldn't like to be alone." He whispered, moving closer to the still female to move a bit of her hair back in place.

Jennifer smiled sadly at him. "C'mon, Carson and Ronon will be here a while, you need to eat something."

"I'm not really hungry." He replied, but walked away all the same.  
o0o  
Dara paused as she passed Doctor Baxter office. 'Is he crying?'

She pushed his door opened a little bit and frowned at the site of the head-shrink sitting in the dark, a glass in his hand a tears trailing down his face. "Doctor Baxter?"

"Yes?" He asked, swiping his face and putting the glass down.

"What are you doing sitting in the dark?" She had to ask. It seemed like such a, such a sad thing to do.

"I am merely reflecting on a life lost too soon." He replied, flipping the lights on and turned to her. "Is there a reason you are in my office, or did you come here unconsciously?"

"What? No, I'm on my way to record a message for Kimberleys parents." Dara replied.

"Please, have a seat." Baxter motioned to his couch.

"No I have to get that message out-"

"She is not going anywhere; her parents can wait ten more minutes." Baxter interrupted.

Dara narrowed her eyes. "Hey, no disrespect for the dead."

"I apologise." He replied. "However, how are you doing?"

"What?" She asked, moving to sit on one of the chairs.

"How are you feeling about Miss Boyce's death?" He asked a bit more clearly, moving the bottle and the glass into the drawer from whence it came from.

Dara shrugged. "A little sad? Angry a bit, I guess."

"Angry at whom?" Melvin asked.

"Kimberley. Myself." Again, Dara shrugged.

"Why at yourself? Why at Miss Boyce?" He questioned. "It was an accidental occurrence, was it not?"

"She got another concussion." Dara clarified. "If she wasn't here, she wouldn't have had as many. And if she had gone to her and Carson's room last night, maybe she would still be alive."

"I see." He replied, moving to pick up a batch of paper.

"Note anything down and your funeral will be next." Dara warned him.

He slowly put the paper back down, and then resumed staring at her.

"What?" Dara asked, knowing he was waiting on something else.

Baxter sat forward and clasped his hands together Montgomery Burns style. "I am merely wondering why you haven't had an emotional response to death of your best f-"

"HEY!" Dara yelled, interrupted him. She stood and strode to his desk, slamming her hands over it. "I am hurt. But inside. You think if I start bawling like a baby it will bring her back? You think that if I start screaming my head off, it will change anything? Kimberley died, there was nothing anyone could have done, and she's not coming back. She would rather I move on with my life than mope about her passing. She knew that this is how I react and she knows-knew that any other reaction wouldn't be true, wouldn't be me."

Suddenly she lifted her hand to her face, and pressed her earpiece.

"McKay wants me in the briefing room." She explained and left the office without looking back.  
o0o  
"The scanners picked up an interesting frequency last night." Rodney explained once everyone gathered. "We weren't alerted, before anyone interrupts, because it was classified as a friendly visitor."

"Could it be Catherine?" John asked Dara. "Or Len?"

Dara shook her head. "Catherine is petrified of the Wraith, and Len refuses to come through here unless something bad is happening or her mom finds her credit card receipt."

"Maybe Catherine set up the IFF sensors to be too sensitive?" Woolsey suggested.

"No, she may be young but she isn't stupid." Rodney shook his head.

"What are the other possibilities?" Woolsey demanded.

"It isn't any kind of Wraith ship. Since we're still here and not blown up." Rodney rambled.

"What about the Asurians? Or the other Ancients?" John added. "The Lucian Alliance?"

"It wouldn't make sense for the Asurians to come out of hiding. And the Ancients would probably covered their tracks-" Dara stopped mid sentence to look at the 3D map. "Does that go to a planet that an ice planet?"

"M6H-987?" Rodney entered some sort of code into the data pad he had, pausing as Dara began chocking on her own breath.

"You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!" she yelled and stood up. "That girl I swear to God she is going to turn me gray! She's not ever here and-"

She paused and shivered. Quickly she turned to John. "I know the bastards that did this. And I need your help in killing them."  
o0o  
Dara sat on the co captains' chair, Rodney bitching behind her, glancing every few minutes from the screen to John. "Can you make this thing go any faster?"

John turned his eyes to look at Dara. "I can only go as fast as the gate allow, dear."

Dara rolled her eyes at him and began tapping her foot.

"If Kimberley where here, she would tell Dara not to be a back seat puddle jumper driver." Teyla whispered to Ronon, who cracked a grin.

"Remind me when we find that girl alive to kill her!" Dara heard then and fought the urge to roll her eyes. 'She needs to stop corrupting aliens.'

"We're coming up to the last gate before M6H-987." Rodney informed them all.

"Any thing about this planet we should know hen?" Carson asked Dara.

Dara bit her lip. "Nothing much."

"I sense a but here." John cut his eyes to Dara.

"What makes you say that?" Dara asked, trying to be innocent.

"There's always a but." Rodney added.

"And if its being kicked its yours." Ronon grinned.

"Boys." Teyla and Carson warned them.

"Well, you know the Asguard?" Dara began, wondering if she should rip the bandage off or take her time torturing them.

"They're smart." John shrugged, and then his full attention went to her. "Please tell me we aren't about to go into a new war or something?"

"Well, we don't have Jackson." Dara mused to herself, and then decided to hell with it. "There is a lost tribe of Asguards living on M6H-987. They kidnapped Kimberley for some reason, but they were supposed to kidnap Rodney and Daniel Jackson in a few years time we guess due to someone turning on an Alteran device, which blows up Wraith Hive Ships jumping into hyper space and Stargates."

"Now who would want to make something like that?" John demanded, and then glared behind him. "McKay! Don't even think about it!"  
o0o  
The puddle jumper cloaked as it exited the Stargate, Rodney running a diagnostic search on the planet below.

"Let me guess, the atmosphere on the planet is toxic?" Dara smirked as Rodney grumbled and nodded. "That's why they have the suits."

"Suits? What suits?" John was confused. "Dara, you're not making much sense."

Dara looked at him, then at Ronon and Rodney, before she shook her head. "Let's just get down there and kick some alien ass."

"You do realize I'm alien." Ronon smirked at her.

"Yeah, but we know we can't kick your ass." Dara grinned.

"So what's the plan?" John asked. "Apart from the ass kicking?"

"Get in there, find their leader, and demand to know what they were up to and where Kimberley is." Dara shrugged.

The men exchanged a look.

John opened his mouth. "Dara-"

"When Teyla was gone, did you think she was dead?" Dara cut him off.

Johns face flushed with anger. "No! Why the hell-"

"What makes you say that?" Dara demanded.

"Because I felt it in my gut." John was adamant.

"Well so do I." Dara inclined her head to a nod, waiting for John to nod back before leaving her chair and grabbing her gun. "Let's get this show on the road."  
o0o  
As the puddle jumper landed, a group of robot looking beings surrounded the ship.

Dara exited first, followed by John, then Teyla and Rodney. Ronon remained hidden until John spoke with a clear voice, quickly before Dara could start demanding. "Hi, we come from Atlantis; we think you guys paid us a visit last night?"

The beings turned to one another, then turned to leave.

"HEY!" Dara yelled and tried to grab the closest one, glaring as she felt herself being held back by John.

"I think they wish for us to follow." Teyla whispered to her.

Dara looked at the hidden Asguard, then to her boyfriend, and then back again. She shrugged out of his hold and stalked forward.  
o0o  
Once inside the large building the Asguard shed their protective gear and stood together, united as one as the Atlantis crew looked at them.

"What business do you have here?" One of the Asguard asked.

"We think you have one of our people held here hostage, against her will." Teyla replied diplomatically.

The Asguard looked confused.

Dara felt her heart constrict. She felt the anger rise up in her head and heart, willingly trying to keep her subconscious thoughts from surfacing. 'I'm going to kill them! If she isn't here, I'll-I'll - please, oh God please don't let her be dead. Please.'

"But we sent her back." The Asguard replied. "If she died, then I am sorry that your friend has perished, but it had no connection to us."

'No connection!' Dara saw red. "You lying little son of a bitch!"

John grabbed the clearly overly emotional Dara around the waist and hauled her back a few feet to Ronon, who grabbed her shoulders and held her firmly in place. "Is there no way you could have made a mistake?"

The Asguard blinked at him, as though to ask why he would suggest such a thing.

"I'm just saying, technology and that girl don't get on too well." John held his hands up in peace.

"We will show you the clone we have on ice." The Asguard nodded. "This way."  
o0o  
The gang from Atlantis and their guide arrived at the stasis chambers and everyone could see that the lone Asguard in there was nervous as hell.

"Glaciesvir, show the humans where their cloned friend is." Their guide ordered.

"There is a slight difficulty in complying with that order." Glaciesvir replied.

"That is?" Carson demanded.

Glaciesvir seemed to sigh. "The subject was wrong."

"Excuse me?" Dara demanded.

"The clone was sent back to the original subject's position. When we tried to freeze the original, she began to become non compliant." Glaciesvir explained. "She is in the study room."

"What?" Dara demanded and stormed up to the second Asguard, then looked him over. "You are so lucky you don't have clothes on buster!"

"Take us to her." Ronon demanded.

Glaciesvir looked to him to respond negatively, and then looked up as Ronon leveled his gun on him. "As you wish."  
o0o  
They entered the completely the same room as before and stared as their Asguard guide pressed a few buttons on the wall, causing a wall to slide away, showing Kimberley, with her back to them, talking in a halting mix of Ancient and Latin to the Asguard scientist in front of her.

"Tamen ego did non vilis ut!" Kimberley threw her hands up for emphasis.

The Asguard pointed behind them, and then seemed to sag in relief.

Carson stared at the new comer. 'It cannae be...'

Kimberley stared at them, then blinked and grinned. "Hey guys, when did you get here?"

Carson pushed John and Ronon out of the way, grasped Kimberley by her shoulders. "Is that really you?"

"Uh, I think so?" She replied, looking at him confused.

Tears collected in his eyes as he smiled, then bent his head forward and kissed her.

"Okay you two, knock it off." John called to them, turning to look away as Carson backed Kimberley into a wall.

"Whoa there Car, what's the fire?" She asked, pulling her face away from him.

"I thought-we thought-you died." Carson finally got out, kissing her again.

"Pretty lively for a dead girl." She joked, and then winced at the pain that crossed his face. "Hey, I'm here now. No getting rid of me."

"That is true." The Asguard that Ronon had a hold on said. "We would be very grateful if you were to take the incommodus unus away?"

Kimberley, who was kissing Carson again, stopped, and then glared at the Asguard. "Hey!"

"What did he call her?" John asked Dara, who shrugged, still watching her friend.

"I think it was 'annoying one'." Rodney translated.

"Heh, it fits." John grinned.

"I think for kidnapping me you otta give us more than that." Kimberley replied, turning to look at the Asguard. "You messed with my body, messed with my friends - which has made me valde punctum, and made everyone panic and travel across the galaxy. They deserve more than just a pat on the back and me stuck with them again."

"Yes, yes, anything." The Asguard promised.

"I dunno, I kinda like it here." Kimberley grinned as the Asguard panicked.

"Please, take her." Glaciesvir asked. "We have all the information we needed."

"What did you tell them?" Dara demanded.

"Was there a rule against talking to the Asguard?" Kimberley was positive that there wasn't one.

"Yes! Rule 300!" Dara snapped.

"Well I didn't tell them anything!" Kimberley snapped back, and then blinked. 'Holy hell, was Dara- was she worried about me?'

"It is true; she has been very un useful." The Asguard told them.

"Well maybe you should have answered my questions." Kimberley replied with a scowl. "Like who are the Atlanteans? How did they get started?"

Glaciesvir blinked. "Who are the Atlanteans?"

"Dude are you thick or summat?" Kimberley rolled her eyes.

"Please, take her." Glaciesvir pleaded with more emotion than any of them had ever heard from an Asguard.

"What do they get in return?" Kimberley asked.

"Our gratitude." The leader in the room responded.

"Not enough." Kimberley shook her head. "How about some weapons schematics and we'll work from there?"

"You sure she's the original?" Rodney whispered to John, who looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "She seems new and improved."

Dara rolled her eyes and socked Rodney in the arm.

"Ow!"

"The schematics will be ready for you to pick up when you return to your ship." Glaciesvir nodded once.

"So I'm going home?" Kimberley grinned.

"Aye, yer going hame." Carson grinned to her, a hand still around her neck.

John rolled his eyes. "Can you two keep it in your pants till we get home?"

Carson and Kimberley looked at John. 'Seriously?'


	43. Alrek of Eirik

Chef Scott Rotella, head cook of the Atlantis expedition and former marine, stood at his post, dishing out scoops of porridge to the men and women of the city who were beginning their day, taking a break from their work, or getting ready for bed.

His eyes followed two of the newer members of the expedition, who were different in almost every aspect.

Dara sat down with a grin on her face, watching as Kimberley sat down with a thump, before she laid her head on the cool table, eyes closed. "I'm gonna go grab my breakfast."

"Hmm." Kimberley nodded her head, still on the table. "Don't get lost."

Dara quirked an eyebrow but nodded all the same, moving to the food. After picking up a tray, she made her way to the hot food section, snagging a glass of milk as she went past.

Scott nodded to her as she looked over the hot items, quickly picking up pancakes from their tin.

Dara returned to her seat and placed her tray down on the table. She looked at Kimberley and strained to hear the noise her friend was making. Hearing a soft snore she rolled her eyes and bent down, picking up Kimberleys always present bag with her two hands.

Aiming it just to the right of her friends head Dara let it drop, grinning as she shot up, blinking wildly.

"I didn't do it!" She protested, then looked at the bag and blinked. "DARA!"

"Go get breakfast." She ordered.

Kimberley mumbled something under her breath but nodded, yawning as she stood.

Slowly she made her way to the cereal island and poured a bowl, adding some milk before grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl next to it. With the same speed, she walked back to the table, sitting down with a thump.

Then groaned. 'I forgot a spoon!'

Wordlessly she pushed the bowl from her and grabbed the banana, peeling it quickly and shoving it into her mouth.

"What did you do last night?" Dara asked, causing Kimberley to choke on the potassium filled item.

"What?" She asked.

"You're really tired." Dara pointed out, swallowing some pancakes. "What were you doing last night? I know you weren't up on Skype."

"I was playing with Carson." Kimberley replied.

"I don't want to hear this!" Dara clamped her hands over her ears.

"We were playing scrabble." She defended. "Why?"

"You sure that's all you did?" Dara smirked at her.

Kimberley blushed and nodded her head. "Unless we had a threesome with Radek."

"Did someone say my name?" Radek asked as he walked by, a bowl of bran flakes and cup of coffee on his tray.

"Just talking about last night." Kimberley cleared up.

"Yes, and I still say that you two were cheating." Radek shuffled his feet in annoyance. "There is no way Balamory is a real word."

"Balamory? Sounds baloney." Dara pitched her own two cents in, motioning for Radek to have a seat.

"That is what I said!" Radek nodded in thanks.

"It's a TV show, and a town!" Kimberley repeated. "We even asked Doctor Thompson-"

"The Scandinavian horticulturist?" Dara interrupted.

"Who also has fourteen nieces and nephews." Kimberley reminded her. "It's a big hit over there."

Dara looked at her. "Do I even want to know how you know this?"

Kimberley glanced at her before shrugging. "Zoë found the Pegasus galaxies version of poison ivy and we got chatting."

Dara mumbled something about stopping her friend from hanging in the infirmary as much.

"Dara, Kimbo." Evan Lorne paused at their table. "Hey doc, these two giving you brain damage?"

"Speak for yourself!" Kimberley stated hotly.

"Please, no damage today!" Lorne pleaded with a grin. "You two ready?"

"For?" Dara asked, finishing her pancakes.

"Target practice." He grinned and watched Zelenka back away slowly.  
o0o  
Lorne lead them from the mess hall to one of the least damaged piers.

"Why aren't we at a shooting range?" Dara asked as they stepped out into the fresh air.

Biting his lip Lorne looked to Kimberley and inclined his head before whispering, "Bullets bounce."

"Bullets do what now?" Kimberley whirled her head around to look at them.

"Not a thing." Lorne quickly answered, walking over to a table where several guns lay. "Except hit their mark by the time I'm done with you two ladies." 'And hopefully I won't be the mark.'

Kimberley bit her lip but nodded. Dara looked at the array of weapons with interest.

"So, you ever shot anything before?" Lorne asked, watching Dara eyeing the guns.

"Pshaw, I'm from Wisconsin, we shoot before we can walk." She joked.

"Dara, I thought you were from Michigan?" Kimberley whispered, leaning over to her.

"Ssh, don't tell them that!" She whispered back.  
o0o  
At the door, John stopped walking to observe Dara and Kimberley, secretly glad that the more unstable of the two wasn't too keen on guns.  
o0o  
"Ok, what about you Kimberley?" He questioned, lifting a gun up and checking it before holding it to Kimberley. "Ever shot a gun?"

"Does a PS3 gun count?" She asked hesitantly.

Lorne shook his head. "No."

As Lorne explained the ins and outs of the gun (a P90), Kimberley passed it to Dara, who checked the safety, clip and barrel were off, loaded and clear before lifting it up to her shoulder, kept both eyes open and opening fire, shooting once, twice, then three times, knocking all five cans off of the balcony.

"Wow, great shooting Tex." Kimberley quipped, and then looked at the sun. "Well will you look at the time guys, girls gotta get her beauty sleep some how, bye!"

"But Kimberley, were not done!" Lorne shouted after her.

"Teach me tomorrow teach, gotta be, anywhere but here the now!" She replied, walking backwards before turning and sprinting down the short corridor and into one of the transporters.

"What's with her?" John asked, finally joining them from his observing spot. "Nice shot Dara. Could make a marine out of you."

"Thanks John, but I'd rather use it for defence. Speaking off, gotta jet, sparring with Ronon and Teyla in ten." Dara waved to them and made her exit, returning with the gun seconds later.  
o0o  
The two girls met up at lunch, Dara actually having to look around before finding her friend sitting at the back with a suspiciously clean bowl in front of her.

"You had lunch?" Dara asked, sitting down with her tray of mystery meat.

Kimberley nodded, sipping a bottle of water and eyed the meat as it slowly slid along the plate.

"What was that at the shooting range?" Dara asked, spearing some of the meat into her fork then into her mouth.

"I don't like guns." Kimberley shrugged.

"Why?" Dara asked once she swallowed.

"I dunno." Kimberley looked at her friend then blushed. "I guess it's because they make me uneasy."

"Huh?" Dara questioned.

"Think about it, you can take a human being, or pretty much anything, out at long range with one of those puppies. That ain't exactly fair." Kimberley pointed out. "And there are so many different ways of killing someone; guns are just an extra torture."

"But in the Pegasus galaxy guns are needed." Dara pointed out, pointing her fork to Kimberley. "You are going to learn right?"

Kimberley nodded her head slowly.

"Promise me that you are going to learn." Dara placed her fork down and kicked her friend under the table. "If not to kill, but to protect yourself and others."

"I promise." Kimberley nodded, rubbing her shin as she did so.

"Good." Dara began to finish her meal.

"Hey, who's going off world today?" Kimberley asked after a few minutes of silence.

"You are." Dara reminded her.

"What!" Kimberley almost shouted. "But I went last time- do you not remember what happened last time?"

"Uh, I went last time." Dara reminded her with a look. "Remember, you snuck those chocolates into my bag? John the monster from the muddy lagoon?"

Kimberley blinked, and then nodded slowly. "Oh yeah."  
o0o  
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Kimberley implored Dara as they stood in the middle of the gate room, the active wormhole behind them, the first team waiting on Kimberley to finish talking with her friend. "Or swap places? I'm sure Mister Woolsey won't mind!"

Woolsey looked like he would rather slow dance with Apophis.

"No, you go and have fun. I'm going to fill Mister Woolsey in some more about the series, just try not to shoot Rodney okay?" Dara grinned.

"Shoot me? Why would she shoot me? Dara? Boyce? SHEPPARD!" Rodney screamed as said man, who shook his head at his friends antics and waited for the females to finish talking, pushed him through the gate.

The girls rolled their eyes before Kimberley instinctively hugged Dara around the neck. "Stay safe."

"Oui, oui." Dara grinned, and then nodded with her head to the gate. "You better go before your ride leaves."

"Yes mom." Kimberley deadpanned, walking backwards before spinning around, an inch from the gate. Slowly she raised one hand, as she had done to many times before, barely touching the strange feeling wormhole.

However, before she could complete her ritual someone (possibly John) pushed her forward, causing her to stumble through the gate, through the wormhole, and onto another planet.  
o0o  
Kimberley stumbled through the gate, whirling around to glare at John who whistled as he stepped through.

"You're supposed to keep an eye out." John told her.

"What did you shove me through for?" Kimberley demanded.

"You were taking too long!" John replied as he swept his gaze over the area, turning to look at her once he was sure they weren't going to be jumped not noticing Kimberley placing her bag behind a tree.

"Yeah because I-" Kimberley stopped mid sentence.

John turned to look at her, thinking something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, forgot what I was saying." She laughed nervously, smiled behind him. "Hiya!"

John turned around and stood more at guard, watching the group of ten men advance towards them. Each had on medieval type styled clothing and carried swords or po staffs. One man stood ahead from the others.

He was taller, with a larger build and a scar running down the left side of his face from his hear to his cheek. He looked over John, Ronon and Rodney, eyes stopping at Kimberley who smiled and waved to him.

"Welcome, travellers of the kokäb mäzgiya." The apparent leader spoke quickly.

"What language is he speaking?" John asked Rodney.

"How am I supposed to know!" Rodney shot back. "Do I look like Daniel Jackson!"

"Hi." Kimberley looked at John who nodded for her to make first contact. "We are travellers from a far off planet, in search of both trading partners and aid against the fight with the evil that is Wraith."

She turned to John. "Did I say that right?"

John nodded.

"Ahh trading partners!" The man smiled and motioned for them to come with him. "Come with us, we are travelling back to camp. We are the leaders of Eirik and are meeting for the first time this season."

"Well didn't we come at the most opportune time?" John smiled and nodded to his group. "I'm Col. Sheppard; this is Weapons Specialist Ronon Dex, Doctor Rodney McKay and Miss Boyce."

"I am Alrek." The leader, Alrek, introduced himself. "Come, we must make haste is we are to make camp before nightfall."

Kimberley turned to John, who nodded, stepping ahead of her to talk with Alrek, while Rodney walked closer to Kimberley, eyeing the 9 mill in her holster, and Ronon brought up the rear, eyeing the group suspiciously.  
o0o  
The males from Atlantis sat together in a cluster, watching and trying to censor Kimberley who was talking freely with the men.

Eirik was a planet that was divided into fifths, and each season there was a meeting between each area, with two of the higher-powered males from each section coming together.

"My land is the main food source provider." The bulkiest of the group explained to Kimberley, who nodded as she kept her attention on him, trying to absorb as much as possible.

"We provide the materials to make shelter and buildings." The middle build and shortest height male added.

"We add to each section by cultivating the raw materials from the land." A sun kissed blonde man revealed.

"We train our people to be medicine givers, teachers and careers to those who need it most." A nerdy looking one put in.

Alrek smirked to Kimberley. "My lands provide the weapons needed to keep the peace between all lands."

"What kind of weapons?" Ronon added, his interest peaked.

"Mainly long range weapons of bows and such, although we are working on mass producing a shorter range weapon, much like what you have." Alrek explained. "Are you competent at using such a weapon Miss Boyce?"

"I don't like shooting guns. Never even tried." 'Was that a flirt? Naa.' Kimberley explained dismissively to the tribes leaders, and then nodded to Ronon. "He loves them though, hence the whole Weapons Specialist thing. Hey maybe we could trade?"

'Some times that girls gotta learn to keep her mouth shut.' John though as he frowned at the ambassadors talking with each other, not liking the way Alrek continued to stare at Kimberley.  
o0o  
A few hours later the gang separated from the leaders who were on their retreat, to make their own camp.

John motioned for Kimberley to follow him as Ronon supervised the fight between Rodney and the tent.

"Kimberley, you shouldn't tell others what you're not good at, or even what you are." He began speaking once they were far enough away from either group, trying to explain to Kimberley how she had put everyone in danger. "This isn't like being on Earth—"

"No, because there are even more nasty ways of killing a person." She rolled her eyes, brushing imaginary lint from her BDUs. "Sometimes you have to offer a branch John."

"But you CAN'T, not here, not when people depend on you. You giving them that information may seriously cause us problems if we find out that they aren't peaceful." He continued berating her.

Suddenly the penny dropped and her face drained of color. 'Crap.' "John, I-I'm sorry, I-I di-didn't mean it!"

"Its all right Kimberley, just, don't do it again okay?" He smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder, frowning as she shook and her face paled. "Are you okay?"

"I'm really sorry John." Kimberley repeated. "I'm such an idiot!"

"Hey its okay, everyone makes mistakes." John tried to calm her down. 'Damn it where's a prozac when you need one!'

"Yeah but probably not as much as me." Kimberley grumbled to herself.

John sighed. "Look Kimberley, some times you just have to make judgment calls. And yeah, you've messed up a few times, but who hasn't? Remember, I made it to colonel status."

Kimberley took a sideward glance at him.

"What!" He asked, grinning as she giggled. "You okay?"

"Yeah, and I'll let you do that talking from now on." She nodded her head.

Together they walked to the edge of the woods that they were talking in, stopping short at the sight of Rodney wearing the tent, the rope wrapped around him like a bow, making him look like a weirdly wrapped Christmas present.

John turned to Ronon who was smirking as Rodney flailed around. "How did he-"

"He's McKay." Ronon interrupted.

"And you didn't help him?" Kimberley asked and moved to grab Rodney, falling down with him on top. "Stop squirming!"

Ronons smirk got wider. "Funnier this way."

Kimberley helped Rodney to untangle, and both sat and watched Ronon and John put the four-man tent up.

"You alright with sleeping with us?" John belatedly asked.

"Yeah, not like any of ya are gonne jump meh." Kimberley yawned. "Sorry."

John looked at her, blinked, and then nodded. "I'll take first watch, then Ronon, then Rodney."

"I'm on last then?" Kimberley asked.

"Uhh, since this is your first mission off world, and you're obviously really tired, I figured you'd be better off catching a few extra Z's." John diplomatically answered.

Kimberley blinked at him, and then turned to Ronon. "Did he just say it's because I'm a girl or risk of falling asleep?" 'I used to work nightshift! Wait, he doesn't know that…'

"Bit of both." Ronon answered.

"Ah, okay." Kimberley nodded.  
o0o  
During the night, when John was about to trade places with Rodney, Kimberley exited the tent.

"Where are you going?" John demanded, lowering his P90.

"Uh, bafoom." She yawned, and then shook her head. "Sorry, I gotta use the bathroom."

John nodded and watched as she went towards a section of trees, mind freezing as she screamed in terror. "Kimberley!"

Ronon burst through the tent as John ran towards the tree line where Kimberley was, the Sedetan running towards his friends as he heard Johns P90 go off.

As Ronon made his way to the trees, he spotted Alrek and the others surrounding John and Kimberley. Alrek was smirking and saying something to the female, who blushed with anger and opened her mouth to shout at him, but paused and turned to look at John.

"Look, this is just some huge misunderstanding." John began. "If you guys don't want to trade with us, fine, okay, we'll leave and never come back."

Alrek laughed. "He thinks they can leave!"

Two of the tribes' leaders grabbed onto Ronon from behind and shoved him to the ground, another tying his arms and legs together. Ronon watched helplessly as Rodney was brought over, bound and gagged, and as two other of the men seized John.

"Back to their camp!" Alrek ordered, smirking as he motioned for Kimberley to walk ahead of him, grasping her arm as she went pasted. "After you, my lämwädh."

'Huh?' Kimberley thought, and slowly began walking towards camp, taking a longer route than what they had originally used.

"Do not try anything, Miss Boyce, for you will not like the consequences." Alrek pulled her arm closer to him and sneered down at her.

They arrived at the camp, Alrek and Kimberley first; Ronon and his two body guards, John and his two, then Rodney and his one, the remaining four scattering around the area, searching through their belongings.

"Why are you doing this?" Kimberley asked, finally finding her voice.

"You may seem like wonderful trading partners, but I have been forewarned about trading with those claiming to be from the land of the Ancients." Alrek frowned at her. "You bring much death and destruction, crashing markets, tumbling civilizations, overturning regimes. And this is on worlds that you are only there for a short length of time."

"But we do most of that to help the majority of the world, and they ask us!" Kimberley tried to defend the Atlantis teams past actions.

"Much like they tried to help two fractions of one world, pitting them against one another?" Alrek continued.

"What world we talking about here?" John asked. "Would that be the same one who told you about us?"

"My friend Acustus." Alrek inclined his head slightly.

"Acustus, as in Acustus Kolya of the Genii?" Kimberley spoke as John growled.

"The one in the same." Alrek nodded. "Now my dear, I think we can come to some type of arrangement."

Kimberley watched Alrek. Alrek watched Kimberley. Everyone else watched them.

"You are a strong opinionated female." Alrek spoke softly, slowly walking around her. "And, as I have heard so far, have vast amounts of information inside your head."

"You got a point?" She asked, turning her head to keep him in her line of vision.

"Your friends may leave, and I will not alert my trading partner to your travels to this world, in exchange for you remaining and telling me everything you know." Alrek offered.

Kimberley blinked, taken a back by his statement. "Leader of the pack says what now?"

"You are not remaining here." John ordered her before she could think any further. 'She stays, Dara will kill me.' "Either we all leave, or none of us do."

"What?" Rodney asked.

"How about a compromise?" Kimberley offered. "A trade; we tell you everything we know about, say, the Genii and Wraith, and give you some weapons to begin reverse engineering, and you let us go?"

"I think not. Agree to my arrangements or your gwadänyamoc will die." Alrek ordered.

"Oy, I don't like your tone of voice." Kimberley felt her basic personality pushing through, and forgot where she was. "You should stop acting like such a set wsha."

Alrek glared at the female, then lifted his arm, striking her across the face with such a force that she stumbled away from him.

"You catch on quick, young shärmuT'a." Alrek spoke as he advanced towards her. "Best me in a fight and you and your men may leave."

"But-" Kimberley was forced to stop speaking as Alrek advanced towards her, arms flexing.

His fists curled again and slammed into her cheek. Ronon shouted from the sidelines. "Leave her alone!"

Kimberley instinctively took a step back, head down low, shoulders up. Her eyes darted upwards, and then her head moved backwards, her body sliding forward and back falling to the ground to try to get away from him, grasping Ronons hunting knife as she spotted it next to a whittled stick.

"This is the best you can do?" The leader of the leaders sneered, lifting his right boot to kick her in the ribs, a sickening crack sounding before Kimberley doubled over, gasping for breath.

Closing her eyes she tried to think but was hauled to her feet, her entire body shook before being tossed to the floor, one arm landing in the fire.

Jerking away, she muffled a scream and grasped at the floor for something – a rock, a stick, pebble-anything!

Her right hand grasped something cool and instinct she grabbed it, using her burned left hand to throw dirt in the direction of Arek.

"Gah! My eyes!" He shouted, stumbling backwards.

With a groan, Kimberley clamoured to her feet, holding Ronons hunting knife tightly at her side. Arek wiped the dirt from his eyes before growling at her, advancing quickly.

Kimberley slashed forwards with her right hand, the knife cutting lightly onto his stomach but deeply on his arms. Enraged he knocked it from her hand, his own grabbing for her neck.

His body weight slammed onto her, her head cracking off the ground.

A memory from time gone by crossed her eyes and she screamed, using adrenaline to turn them over and over, until they were near the expedition members bags.

Keeping her stinging eyes on him Kimberley brought her head back them thrust it forwards, cracking their craniums together.

John winced, knowing how hard her head was, but refused to feet sorry for the guy. His eyes flickered to his feet where his handgun lay and he kicked it towards the fire, hoping at the last second Kimberley grabbed it before Arek.

Both fighters spotted it at the same time, looking to each other before Kimberley breathed in sharply, ignoring her ribs, and dove to the ground.

Her right hand grabbed the pistol and she scrambled to stand up. She brought it to chest height as Arek flung himself on her, the ominous sound of the gun going off filling the air.

"Ooh." Arek groaned, kneeling back and looking at his blood soaked hands covering his abdomen.

With one last expression of breath he fell forward, dead.

Everyone looked at one another, then Ronon felt his arms become free. Quickly he spun round and stared at McKay, who had gotten himself free then freed his friend. Ronon grabbed his gun from the ground and turned, taking off the remaining tribes leaders quickly.

John over powered the two holding him and made his way to Kimberley, helping her push Alrek from her body, silently praying that the blood was not hers. "Hey, can you stand up?"

Kimberley shrugged her right arm moving as her hand clenched into a fist.

"Give me a hand here!" John shouted to Rodney, who scrambled forward as Ronon secured the area. "We're about two clicks from the gate; do you think you can make it?"

Kimberleys lips moved but nothing came out. She shrugged her shoulder.

Rodney looked to John. "When we get closer to the gate I can dial though using my data pad and get a medical team ready."

John nodded. "Ronon, you got our six or want to lead?"

"I'll take point." Ronon chose, already heading in front of them.

Slowly John and Rodney grasped Kimberleys arms and tried to stand her up.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Kimberley screamed, throwing her right hand out to hit John in the face as he grasped her burnt forearm.

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" He yelled, trying to calm her down. "How close do we have to be?"

"About a mile out." Rodney looked apologetically at him.

"Kimberley-Kimberley! I need you to stay with us okay. You need to help us to help you." John tried to speak clearly and be as none threatening as possible.

The only female nodded.

"Can you walk for me?" John asked, smiling as she nodded. "Okay, I'm going to be on your left, and Rodney will be on your right, lets get you back to your boyfriend so he can patch us both up."

Kimberley and Rodney frowned.

"Both?" Rodney asked.

"You think Daras going to leave me in one piece after this?" John scoffed.  
o0o  
The gate sprang to life, causing Dara to pause mid sentence about the Belkans. "They shouldn't be back yet, or even checking in." 'If its Rodney to tell me he's shacked up with another priestess I'll kill him!'

Woolsey and Dara made their way to the control room where Chuck looked at the commander of the expedition before opening the channel. "Its team ones code ma'am."

"This is Woolsey, what's the situation?" Woolsey asked.

"We're about a click away from the gate, ran into a spot of trouble." John explained, puffing out a breath.

"What kind of trouble? Are there any injuries?" Woolsey asked.

"Oh, just your usual friendly locals who weren't really friendly. I've got one person who needs medical treatment." John reported.

"Who?" Dara found herself asking.

"Now they aren't hurt too bad, they are walking of their own accord." John tried to calm her escalating fears.

"Who is hurt Col. Sheppard?" Woolsey asked.

John sucked in a breath before exhaling. "Boyce."

"What! How could- what did you do to her?" Dara demanded.

"Nothing! It wasn't me it was- look we're almost there, can you send a medical team through? The sooner she gets some pain medication and a splint the better." John changed the subject. "Oh, and ask them to bring the burns treatment kit. Sheppard out."

"Burns kit?" Dara turned to Woolsey and frowned. "Permission to go through with the medical team?"

Woolsey looked as though he was going to reject her request, but thought back to all the information that the saner of the two girls had given him. "Go get suited up, there could be a back lash from the trouble Col. Sheppard has created."

"What makes you think it was- never mind, I've spoken to the man my self, I know what he's capable of." Dara tried to joke but the worry never left her face.  
o0o  
Rodney and John sat Kimberley on a tree stump carefully as the gate began to dial in. Seconds after the last chevron locked and the wormhole engaged Dara and Carson came through, a large medical box between them, allowing Ronon to lower his weapon.

As soon as Dara saw her boyfriend, she dropped the side of the box that she was holding, causing it to crash down on to Carsons foot, and Carson to cry out in pain. 'Maybe I should pack less stuff?'

Carson watched as Dara made her way over to John and whacked him in the arm, shouting at him quietly. His eyes moved to the figure behind them and he gasped. "Kimberley!"

Dara turned around and looked at Carson, hand mid motion to knock the stuffing out of John, then slowly turned her head to look at her friend. 'Well, crap.'

Kimberley sat gingerly on the tree stump, her left arm lying uselessly on her lap, burn marks and burnt skin from her finger tips to the top of her sleeve. Her face was bloody and bruised. The way she was sitting suggested broken or cracked ribs.

"Where did all that blood come from?" Carson asked as he stepped closer to his girlfriend, opening up the medical box and routing around for some strong painkillers.

Kimberleys mouth opened and closed a few times, before she swallowed. "From the man, I, I killed."

"Wait, what?" Dara demanded, whirling on John once more. "How the hell did she get into a position where she had to kill someone?"

"Can we talk about this at home?" John asked, wincing as Daras voice got higher.

Dara glared at him. Turning she spoke to Carson. "Can she walk?"

Kimberley kicked her legs around in response.

"Can you bare weight?" Dara asked.

Taking shallow breaths Kimberley stood up slowly, and then began to fall to the side. Ronon stepped forward, grabbed her right arm with one hand, and put his other around her waist, pulling her up and holding her steady.

Dara nodded. "Let's go then."

"Wait!" Rodney snapped his fingers. "Kimberleys bag."

"Right here." John waved it.

"Why was it near the gate?" Dara asked.

"Just in case." Kimberley replied softly.

John and Rodney looked at each other, then Rodney popped open the bag and raised an eye brow. 'Scanners, extra weapons, a spare tent, medical kit, grenades - what did she do, go shopping in the armoury?'

Carson frowned, and then nodded. "Right, lets get her home."  
o0o  
Inside the medical lab Kimberley sat half out of it as Carson and Jennifer ran around with their team, trying to figure out which injury to treat first.

Kimberleys eyes rolled as Carsons warm hands pressed against her exposed stomach. As they moved to press against her side, she flinched and became more awake, throwing her right hand out and hit him in the face. "Fuck off!"

Carson avoided the hands a second time and beckoned Ronon over. "Give us a hand lad?"

Ronon nodded and grabbed Kimberleys right hand, struggling for a second before using both hands to keep her full arm in place.

"We'll check to see if you have a concussion, then treat your arm then wrap your ribs if nothing comes back from your x-ray." Carson explained, and then looked to Jennifer. "Is that alright Doctor Keller?"

Jennifer nodded. "I'll go check the x-rays just now."  
o0o  
Night had fallen and the medical team had done all they could. Ronon stood outside Carsons door as he waited for the medical man to finish writing up his report.

As Carson exited the office, Teyla entered the infirmary, Rodney grumbling but following behind her.

"How is she?" Ronon asked.

"Sore, but she should be sleeping now the col. has finished speaking with her." Carson sighed. "Her arm will be in a cast for a few weeks, and she cannae travel out of the city, or go home, until that arm is one hundred percent better. I'm not too sure the full extent of damage that the fire has caused, but I do know that it isn't worse than second degree burns. She mad a mild concussion, and one of her ribs on her left side is cracked. She was given a skin graft and will need another one in a few days time once the blistering has begun to go away."

John walked slowly towards the group. "What's the prognosis doc?"

"She'll live, but be uncomfortable and restricted for a while." Carson condensed. "Like I said, she needs another skin graft but I'd like her to have healed up a bit before we do anything else to her. Did she say much to you?"

"She wants to know if she can stay in her room tonight." He added.

Carson sighed and shook his head. "Tomorrow, but not tonight, I want to keep a wee eye on her."

John nodded, and then grinned. "Not it!"  
o0o  
Kimberley glared at the spot where Carson had been (he had left pretty quickly after telling her that she couldn't go to her room.) Everyone from the team had came and visited before Carson dropped the bombshell, and Dara was in her room getting some things for her to occupy herself with.

But now she was alone with her thoughts, the pounding headache that wouldn't go away, and the looming threat of Woolsey sending her home for being such a stupid-

"Hey Kimberley." Dara interrupted her thoughts. "How you holding up?"

"Just peachy." She snarked.

"Is your name Rodney McKay? No, then don't snark." Dara replied, sitting on the edge of her bed and lifted the bag she was carrying up to be closer to her friend. "I brought you some books, your iPod, notepads, pens-"

"Gee, thanks Dara." She replied sarcastically.

Dara frowned. Then her face realized. "Sorry Kimberley, I forgot."

"Yeah well, thanks anyway. But I'm going to sleep, night." Kimberley turned slightly on the bed and closed her eyes, waiting for Dara to leave before opening them again and, using her right hand, grabbed the bag,

Her hand paused as it came across a fuzzy notebook. As she looked around, she brought it out, then a pen. With one last full look around the infirmary she began writing notes and times of the note books pages, pausing to look at either the infirmary door or the piece of paper that was stuck to the inside jacket, wincing often as the writing became illegible after a few seconds.

Taking a breath she steeled herself before focusing on writing more clearly, head moving every now and then to make sure no one snuck up on her.  
o0o  
As the hours passed, Kimberley wrote and rewrote different things, filled pages upon pages in her notebook. Carson stopped by the check up on her, his timings increasing from every ten minutes, to fifteen, to half an hour, and now an hour.

Kimberley waited until he had left before turning to her heart rate machine and turned the sound down, taking her time to take off the things attached to her. Her right hand grasped her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

Slowly she walked towards a transporter, taking her time as she became breathless. After getting inside the ancient piece of technology Kimberley stared at it before closing her eyes and jabbing her hand at it, praying silently to end up near the secondary puddle jumper bay.

Opening her eyes and turning around she grinned. Walking across the room, she entered the deserted bay area and stopped only when she was outside Dara's home made space ship.

Entering the jumper Kelly paused at the entrance, contemplated closing the hatch, but shrugged her shoulder. 'I'll get it later.'

Kimberley individually pressed the latch on each of the overhead bins, causing them to open like on an aeroplane, and began to empty them of things that she wouldn't need. After going through two bins, she found the spare boxes (and a box of Christmas chocolates).

Sorting through the stuff she began putting them in boxes, then stopped for a second, moving to the top of the jumper. Carefully she sat down and placed her right hand over the palm reader.

'INVALID READING, PLEASE TRY AGAIN.'

"Defunct heap of IBM say what now?" Kimberley demanded, removing her hand and clearing the screen before replacing it, frowning again as it refused to read her palm. "What the hell, why aren't you working!"

'LOCK OUT.' The screen read.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kimberley demanded and slammed both her fists onto the consol.

Her eyes went wide.  
o0o  
John stopped his patrol as he heard a scream coming from the secondary puddle jumper bay.  
o0o  
Kimberley sat with her head in hand, tears pouring down her face, her arm cradled even closer to her chest. She sat on the floor, her back to the consol as she tried to calm the pulsing waves of pain as they went around her left arm.

Slowly, the pain in her hand, head and chest crashed through a dam and she began to sob, more tears following, not stopping, as she didn't even bother to try to stem them.  
o0o  
John came to stop beside the secondary puddle jumper bay, noting that the noise was coming from there. "Dara? Someone's in your puddle jumper sobbing their heart out."  
o0o  
Dara sprang up from her bed. 'Who's calling me at this hour?' "What? What! I'll be right there. No I think I know who it is."

Quickly she shoved some shoes and clothes on before exiting her and John's room. Using a transporter she arrived outside the jumper room within a few minutes of Johns call. As Dara entered she waved to John to leave, feet taking her to the back of the jumper. She did not stop as she caught sight of Kimberley sitting with her arm held tightly to her, her entire body heaving as she sobbed uncontrollably. Finally she paused when the hurt girl turned her eyes to her.

"Kimberley." Dara hated situations like this. This wasn't who her friend was really; this isn't how her friend should be acting. She knew her friend was just acting out to hide what she really felt. Slowly she stepped towards her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I can't handle this." Kimberley wiped her face, looking away from the American female. "I'm not cut out for this."

"What, and you think I am?" Dara replied, looking at her friend.

"Yes!" Kimberley snapped and started moving the boxes back into the overhead bins.

"Seriously?" The older of the two asked.

"Yes." The youngest replied, stuffing the last of the items into the bins. "Excuse me."

"Where do you think you're going?" Dara demanded.

"Back home." Kimberley replied, moving some stuff around in a box, staring at it and not looking at her friend, her travelling companion.

"You need to deal with what you caused!" Dara replied exasperatedly.

"I am! I will." Kimberley replied.

Dara looked at the piece of paper that the girl had in her hands, grabbing it in shock. "Why do you have the solar flare information that someone sent to both us and Atlantis ages ago?"

Kimberley shrugged, pointing to the door. "I'll send the jumper back once I'm done with it."

"You are not leaving this city." Dara growled. "Sit down and tell me what's wrong?"

"Get off the ship." Kimberley ordered. "Otherwise I'll-"

"What? Shoot me?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

Kimberley shrugged, her body jerking up to hold back another sob. "Just-get out Dara, leave me alone."

"You're my friend." Dara shook her head. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing." Kimberley replied with a shrug.

"I know you Kimberley, you're always planning something!" Dara was beginning to get seriously pissed off.

"It's nothing."

"It's something that's changing your personality. It IS something."

"It's nothing!" Kimberley repeated and made for a grab of the papers.

Dara dodged her and began to leaf through them, noting her friends messy scrawl. She frowned. Then groaned. "Who ever gave you a brain needs their own one looked at."

The Scottish female blushed in anger. "Who ever gave you a heart should have de-thawed it first!"

"If you think this plan will work you are more shades of stupid then I ever thought possible!" Dara almost laughed.

"Shut up." Kimberley snapped and moved to stand behind Dara, putting her hand on her back and began pushing her out of the alien machine.

Without warning Dara turned herself around and grabbed her friends good arm, twisting it along her back and yanked it, pushing a leg to cause the girl to fall forward, being carefully not to hurt her ribs. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I want to fix everything!" Kimberley yelled.

"How will going back to when we got shot out of the sky make that possible?" Dara asked, and then groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"If I can stop myself from speaking with Michael, then none of this will have to happen." Kimberley began, trying to wriggle her arm free. "If I can stop myself from getting that far then-"

"Will you stop it?" Dara yanked her arm, annoyance begin to bleed through her emotions. "Even if you managed to stop that Michael from being told the information, in some universe, you still fucked up!"

"I need to be able to stop it." Kimberley was adamant.

"Michael will still be told all the information. He is one sneaky little bastard, and even though he isn't a Goa'uld, the slimy snake slips through a healova lot of nets." Dara explained, letting go of her friends arm.

Kimberley sat down with a thump.

"Even if you did stop yourself, he probably has something set up in another universe to send the information to others in case the base event didn't happen." Dara explained. "No matter what you do, there is no way you could stop it all. And would you really leave Atlantis? Not have the adventures with the guys? You wrote a piece of fiction about it!"

"That wasn't me!" Kimberley shook her head. "It was a kind of self insert, but so not me!"

"I noticed, she had more back bone." Dara snapped.

Kimberley looked at Dara. "Please, just let me try, I have to try."

"Why?" Dara asked.

"Because I'm sick of me. I'm sick of how I'm acting, of how everything has turned out." Kimberley stared straight ahead with dead eyes, before turning them to Dara. "I now live in an alternate reality where things can get changed by the drop of a hat. If there can be clones of a dead man then there has to be a way of changing this."

"You're just going around in circles." Dara explained and sat down in front of her friend.

Kimberley just closed her eyes and turned away from her friend, the one she always put in danger. "I'm tired of being the overly happy girl who mucks everything up. I don't help anyone; I make everything worse!"

Dara put her head in her hands. "I am not going through all this again!"

Reaching over Dara raised her right hand and threw all her frustrations into it.

THWACK.

"Get your head outta your self-disrespecting and downgrading mood and start acting and being the chirpy and annoying as hell girl because that's the real you, who we all care about!" Dara began to rant. "Every year you get into this mood, and yeah, in the past I haven't known how to deal with it, but I-we-YOU can't afford to have a mental breakdown in this universe!"

Kimberley looked at her friend, something flashing through her eyes. "Okay."

"Okay?" Dara blinked, and then shook her head. 'I do NOT want to know. Don't jinx it Dara, let it be and be thankful she's normal. Ish'  
o0o  
The next day Kimberley woke up with Dara banging on her door.

"Wha?" Kimberley asked, blinking at the sight of Dara and John, both with serious faces on.

"Wow she really does love penguins." John muttered to Dara who elbowed him.

Dara turned her attention to the about to go back to sleep female. "Get ready Kim, we've got some work to do. And you still need to do your mission report for the other day."

"But my arm still hurts; can't I just go back to bed?" Kimberley asked, and then looked at her friend strangely. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, what makes you say that?" Dara tried to look innocent.

"Nickname." She shrugged. "Give me five minutes."

Dara pulled John out of her doorway to the couch, waiting for Kimberley to emerge.  
o0o  
Ten minutes later Kimberley sat outside Doctor Baxter's office, her right hand playing with her trousers in worry.

Baxter looked at her from within his office, noting her hands, the way her feet were resting on each other to keep her grounded, and the way she sat slump in defeat. "I'm not too sure what you want me to do?"

Dara looked at John, and then took a breath. "After what happened to Alrek, Kimberleys behaviour has changed."

"Much like it did when there was the alien entity running around everyone heads." Baxter nodded. "What seems to be the problem? She is becoming a more useful member of the expedition."

"But she isn't Kimberley." John took over for Dara, who looked at him strangely. "Sure sometimes I wish she was a lot more serious, or lose some of the really strong defensive mechanism that keep her apart from everyone else here, and she often takes too much guilt for stuff that she shouldn't onto her shoulders but, they way she's acting...she isn't herself, she isn't the girl who is part of this dysfunctional family that we all …care for..."

John trailed off and looked outside the window.

"Killing Alrek has shattered her sheltered life." Dara added. "Her life wasn't all sunshine and daisies before coming here, but she was still mostly innocent from a lot of stuff that the members of the expedition are used to seeing. Add in the fact she is only twenty-two, this complete change in personality is showing signs that she needs some serious help. Help only you can provide."

"I'll see what I can do." Baxter nodded, and moved to open the door. "Is there anything else?"

"Keep an ear out for her talking you in circles." John added before Dara could. "She will move the topic around so you don't understand what's she's trying to get at. Be direct and to the point, repeating your self if necessary. And don't let her disrespect her self. Point out her many positives."

Baxter listened to John speak and was not the only one shocked.

As the three left the office, Baxter returning with Kimberley moments later, Dara pulled John to the side of one of the corridors ducking into an empty room to kiss him, wrapping her arms around him to pull him closer.

As they separated, Dara put her arms around him to keep him close. "Thank you."

"For what?" John asked, confused to the high heavens.

Dara looked up at him and smiled. "For being you."

Translations:  
kokäb mäzgiya (Stargate)  
lämwädh (Dear)  
gwadänyamoc (companions)  
set wsha (bitch)  
shärmuT'a (slut)


	44. To Be Forgotten

Princess Gilda quickly crept along the halls in the dark of the night. It was during the night, she liked to visit the kitchens. She knew her father wouldn't approve of the fact that she "associated" with the lower class. As she made her way though, she knew that the "lower class" wasn't bad at all. They were her friends and they treated like a normal human being. She was glad for that fact. She didn't like it when everyone treated as the Princess. She really hated that people only seen her for her title. She thought she heard a noise, causing her to stop and look around. She felt a hand grabbing her's. With her heart in her throat, she turns and see a man with a beard and simple outfit. "Lukai!" she exclaimed.

Lukai carefully raises a finger to his lips and makes a "shush" motion. He makes a head tilting motion towards the direction she was going in and she nods towards him. He leads her towards the kitchens. Once they reached there, Lukai let go of her hand and went to hang out over by the roasting fire. He gives her a slight smile and then turns towards the rest of the group that was standing there talking.

Gilda blushes slightly, gives a slight smile, and puts her hands behind her back. She could almost swear she could still feel a slight heat on her hand where Lukai held it. As she watched more of the servants made their way into the kitchen, she couldn't help but to be a little excited by the little get together. She watched a woman walks past with a slightly more elaborate dress than most of the servants, but no where near as elaborate as her's. Her Lady-In-Waiting walks past her and sets down a basket of vegetables on the wooden island. Turning she looks at Gilda. "Princess. I'm surprise you are here, again. I should really tell your father, The King, that you are mingling with the likes of these people."

"Please, Lady Seleaha, don't tell my father. It would upset him if you tell him."

Seleaha gets a Cheshire cat smile on her face as she looks at Princess Gilda. "Don't worry. I would never tell him. I do enjoy your company here each night as well."

Gilda sighs in relief as she looked around the room. About that time Jerkels the Royal Hunter, seemed to be pushing Ambrose the Royal Alchemist into the room. "Sorry, we're late," Jerkels says. "Ambrose wouldn't quit his work. I had to pull him away."

"I was in the middle of a world shattering experiment! You just may have very well ruined it, you... you... Conan!" Everyone in the kitchen turned towards Ambrose and seemed to give him a look. "What?" he asked out loud. "It seemed like an appropriate thing to say."

"What does that even mean, Ambrose?" Lukai asked as he pushed away from the wall.

"It means, well, it means... Actually I have no idea what it means. It just sounded right, for some reason."

"Please, Ambrose, some of your crazy ideas aren't going to hold any sway here."

"Lukai, this is our get together. Please, do not be rude. Especially in front of Princess Gilda," Seleaha says.

"Please," Lukai starts to say as he grabs some of the vegetables and starts to put some of them in the pot. "I've seen her use and deal with worse herself."

"Lukai!" Seleaha exclaims, while gritting her teeth.

Lukai nods towards the princess. "My apologies, Princess."

"Oh, please, don't control yourself on my account," Gilda says.

Jerkels walks over and leans against the wall next to Gilda. "Princess," he casually says.

Nodding towards him, she just says, "Jerkels." Jerkels was the only one she didn't mind calling her by her title. There was something about it, that when he said it to her, it sounded more like an affectionate title than an official one.

Jerkels leans forward and grabs a couple of containers of beer. "Want one?" he asks.

Shaking her head and raises a hand, she says, "No thank you. You know I don't drink, unless on special occasions."

He bumps his shoulder into her shoulder, getting her attention. Smiling down at her, he says, "Hey, I had to try."

Gilda smiles and blushes slightly. "I know."

About that time Ambrose walks up, carrying two bowls of the soup that the kitchen staff was making. "Thanks, buddy," Jerkels says as he takes the extra bowl from Ambrose.

"Hey, that was for Princess Gilda."

"Calm down, Ambrose. I was kidding." He holds the bowl towards Gilda and smiles. "Princess?"

"Why, thank you Jerkels." She carefully takes the bowl from him.

As he wandered off to get his own bowl, Ambrose begins to mumble. "Unbelievable. I got you that bowl. Not him, me!"

"I know you did. Calm down, Ambrose. Thank you for the bowl."

Ambrose seems to stop in mid-rant and looks at her. "Um, you're welcome."

Taking a small sip from the bowl, she gives off a smile. "This is really good. You guys out did yourselves this time."

"I'll let the cook know." He watched as she glanced up and looked down into her bowl, trying to hide a blush. Looking up, he notices Lukai grabbing a container of beer and looking away from Princess Gilda. "I hate to ask, but what is with you two?"

"Huh?" Gilda looks up and over at Ambrose. "I'm confused."

"You and Lukai."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"It's weird, you two have a thing for each other."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please, I know you like him. Just by the way you act around him. I know he likes you too."

"What? How do you know that?"

"He is kind of hung up about you. The way he sometimes talks about it, it's kind of obvious."

Gilda looks down and sighs into her bowl. "Well, nothing came become of it. We are out of each other's class."

"Trust me, if anyone is going to break the rules, it's you two."

As the night wore on, Princess Gilda could feel her eyes getting heavy. The next thing she knew, someone was quickly and quietly guiding her through the halls. She managed to wake up enough to notice that it was Lukai leading her back to her room. When they got to the outside of her room, he stops her right there and nods. "Princess."

Blinking, she clears the sleep from her eyes and gets a good look at Lukai. "Thank you, Lukai."

He carefully places his hand on her cheek and smiles. "No problem, Gilda." As she blushes slightly at his use of her name, he leans in and gives her a small kiss on her lips. He could feel her skin flush with heat as he pulls back from her a little. "I've always wanted to do that."

Lukai smiles, just before he turns around and walks away. Gilda blushes once more, before she lightly touches her cheek where Lukai had his hand. Smiling, she opens the door to her room and gets ready for bed in a daze.

* * *

Out of breath, but still pushing herself, Kimberley ran across the Gate room. She made her way up stairs and stops outside of Mr. Woolsey's office. Knocking on the door frame she pokes her head into his office, without waiting for him to answer. "Have you heard anything about them, yet?"

"No, nothing yet. I will inform you when we get some information."

Sighing, Kimberley walks into his office and begins to pace. This gets Mr. Woolsey to sigh in annoyance. "I knew something was bad about that mission. I could feel it in my gut that something was going to go wrong. No one would listen to me, though."

"Miss Boyce," Mr. Woolsey says sternly, getting her attention. "I'm well aware of your opinion, but it was a risk we had to take. We can't pull each mission that someone gets a funny feeling on it."

"But, my feelings are usually right though!"

"Miss Boyce, we have Maj. Lorne's, Cpt. Gordon's, and every other team out there looking for them. They will find them."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. If it is anything about John's team I know about from reading the reports, it's they have a way of saving themselves from trouble."

"I hope you're right, Mr. Woolsey."

* * *

Princess Gilda curled up tighter under her covers, trying to get a few more hours of sleep. Just when she was just starting to doze off, she could feel someone ripping her covers off of her. Shivering, she opens up one eye to get a look at her offender.

Lady Seleaha gives her a smile, as she holds her covers and staring her down. "Princess Gilda, it is time to get up. You have a big day ahead of you today."

Grumbling, she turns over in her bed. "What is up for today?"

"I believe your father wanted to tell you at breakfast."

Sitting up, she snorts and rubs her head. "I really don't want to eat breakfast, but I guess I have too."

"Good to know." She moves across the room and opens up the wardrobe. Pulling out a dress for the day, she walks across the room and carefully lays it out on chair. "I've laid out your outfit today. Please hurry and get around. Your father doesn't want to be kept waiting."

Gilda sat there and watched as Seleaha left her. Sighing, she gets up and heads over towards the chair. Picking up the dress, she makes a face at it. "Why can't they ever just let me wear some pants and a shirt?" Quickly she gets the dress on and looks at herself in the mirror. "Is this really my station in life?"

* * *

King Xanos stood up from his chair when Princess Gilda entered the room. "Ah, my daughter. Please, come and enjoy breakfast with your old father."

"Yes, father," Princess Gilda says, with a slight curtsy. She makes her way over to her chair and sits down when the servant pulls it out. She wasn't even in the seat for more than a second when some more servants brought a bowls of a warm sticky goo. Quickly they place one down in front of her and the other in front of her father. Picking up her spoon, she takes a small bite out of it. Carefully she lower her spoon into the goo and looks over at her father. "I'm sorry, but I must ask, father. Lady Seleaha said I had a big day ahead of me today. She said you would tell me here at breakfast. May I ask, what is it?"

King Xanos sets down his spoon and stares at his daughter. "I was hoping to take care of this after we had eaten, but I see your curious nature won't allow that." Sighing, he tries to place his thoughts in order, so as to tell her what he had planned. "As you are aware, I'm in the middle of talks about allying ourselves with the Lady Protector's people."

"Yes, sir."

"As you know this a way to strengthen both our kingdoms. Both Lady Mara and I have decided that the best way to form a bond between the kingdoms is a wedding."

Blinking, she gives him a blank look. "Are you finally going to get married again, father?"

"Actually, no. We both figured it would be the best interest if you were to marry her brother, Tavius."

Trying to swallow the lump of dread in her throat, she managed to say, "Is that a wise idea, father?"

"It's the best for both of our kingdoms. Besides, Tavius is a fine man and comes from a royal long blood line."

"But, father," Gilda starts to object, before she was cut off by him.

"I will have no Buts, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good! Now, that's settled, he'll be arriving later tonight. Dinner, actually. I want you to look your best."

"Yes, father."

* * *

Kimberley sighed and hung her head, when Cpt. Gordon and his team came through the Gate. She knew it was another bust. It was really starting to worry her that they had been gone for over a week. The most they had ever been gone for was about two, three days tops.

As Cpt. Gordon and his team made his way up, to debrief Mr. Woolsey on what happened, or didn't happen, he stopped long enough at Kimberley's side. "I'm sorry, Miss Boyce. So far, we're still coming empty handed. I really do hate the fact that we haven't been able to find them."

Kimberley gives off a sad little smile. "Thanks, Mack. I know you're trying. All we can hope is that we get lucky, I guess."

* * *

It had been quite a few hours since her father had told her the news. Not knowing what to do with herself, she decided to try and clear her head with a ride. As she made her way towards the stables, a voice calls out, startling her.

"Princess! What are you doing?" questioned Seleaha.

Sighing, she turns towards her and smiles. "I thought I would go for a ride, Lady Seleaha."

"You do know you have to be ready, right?"

"Yes, I do. It won't be, but for a few hours. I figure I would get a ride in, take a bath, and be ready to meet Tavius when he shows up for dinner."

"If you give me a few moments, I can accompany you."

"That's alright, Lady Seleaha. No need to worry. I'm sure the Royal Stable Master can accompany me."

"Alright, if you insist."

"I do. Enjoy the time off." She watched as Lady Seleaha wanders off to do, whatever she planned around Gilda's schedule. Giving off a genuine smile, she turns and runs quickly to the stables.

"Whoa, Princess," says, Lukai as he sees her run into the Royal Stables. "Where are you going in such a rush?"

"I was hoping to go for a ride around the country side. Mostly to clear my head and what not."

"Why would you do something like that?" he questions as he grabs her saddle and puts it on her horse.

"Haven't you heard the news?"

"No, please enlighten me."

"My father plans to wed me out. Mostly to strengthen our kingdom with our allies."

Lukai stops in mid-stride, almost losing the reins that were in his hands. "He can't be serious, can he?"

"It seems so," she replies. She stood there and watched as he finished up with her horse, then starts to grab the equipment for Lady Seleaha's. "Wait a second. Lady Seleaha isn't coming with me."

"Why is that?" he asked, giving her a stern look.

"I kind of wanted to be alone with my thoughts."

"Well, you know I can't allow you to ride by yourself. Give me a minute and I'll ride with you."

"I can't ask that of you, Lukai."

"You're not and I'm doing it either way. Your safety is very important to me."

Gilda kind of blushes, when Lukai turned away to get his equipment for his horse. She quietly watched as he got his horse around. Once he was done, he turns towards her and smiles. He bends down slightly near her horse and cups his hands together. "Princess."

Smiling, she picks up her dress somewhat and takes the help with the boost up. As she sat, riding sidesaddle, on her horse, she watched as Lukai easily gets up on his horse. He easily got his horse to move towards the door, only stops long enough to turn around to see if she was following after him. "Are you coming, Princess?"

Her smiles gets slightly bigger and she nods. "Yes, sir." Soon, she had her horse following after him. As they rode across the country side, her mind did seem to clear. It was as if all the problems in her world had melted away. What she didn't noticed as they rode along, was that Lukai kept looking back to check up on her, more than normal. Not only did she not see that, but she didn't seem to notice the fact that dark gray clouds began to move in. That was, until it started a large and heavy down pour.

"Come on!" Lukai exclaimed as he grabbed her reins out of her hands and began to lead her horse towards the hills. Once they reached a certain area, he quickly helps her down, grabs her hand, and pulls her and the horses into a small cavern. Just as quickly as he did that, he lets go of her hand and runs it through his now wet hair. Turning to look at her, he asks, "Are you okay?"

Smiling, she shakes her head roughly, trying to get the excess water out of her hair. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a lot of water."

"Sorry about that. That kind of rain is not good for you to ride in. Once it lets up, we'll get back to the castle. Okay?"

Sitting down, she just simply nods, before a shiver over takes her body. "Yeah, I'm fine with that. How long do you think it'll last?"

"Hopefully for a few minutes, maybe hours at the worst case scenario."

"I can't be out here for hours. I have to get back around dinner time. I'm suppose to meet Tavius," she says with some bitter in her voice.

"Do you really have to marry him?" Lukai asks with a sour note in his voice.

Sighing, she rubs her temples, as if to straighten her thoughts. "I don't know. I don't want too."

"Then don't!" Lukai says a little too sternly as he looks at her.

"I can't let my father down, or the kingdom."

"Don't give me that duty crap!"

"Lukai! I have too! It is my duty! It's the best alliance we can have and hopefully to protect us better from the Wraith. I don't want my people to suffer."

"What about me? You know, you're making me suffer!"

"What do you mean by that, Lukai?"

He leans in towards her and takes her head into his hands. Carefully he starts to kiss her, feeling her melt to him. Pulling back a little, he says, "That. That is what I mean."

"Lukai," she starts to whisper. "Don't make me choose." She could feel a bit of wetness in her eyes and she tried to convince herself that it was from the rain.

"Tell me that you don't feel something between us?" he asked again, just before he kisses her again.

The Princess in her mind was trying to tell her not be doing this, but something far deeper and stronger told her other wise. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right. There was something there.

* * *

As much as she tried to push those thoughts down, she couldn't help it. Her mind did have this ability to do what it wanted to do. After a while, her thoughts got the better of her and she rushed to Mr. Woolsey's office. "Mr. Woolsey!" she exclaimed, as she burst into his office.

"Yes, Miss Boyce," he responded, sounding a little more irritated more than normal.

"Request permission to go off world with Maj. Lorne and his team to help look for them!"

Rubbing his forehead for a moment, he gets up and walks around his desk. Carefully he places his hands on her shoulders, mostly to get her full and undivided attention. "Kimberley, we've been over this once before. Whether you are there or not isn't going to help anyone or thing. You'll be more help here. We keep giving you information that you need in order to help us decide if this incident is a slight difference from the information that you know."

"I know," she seems to say a little sadly. "I was just hoping that if I went off world, I could pin something down a little better. I can't stand waiting here, hoping for some good news. The longer I stay here, the more I can't help, but to think that it's somehow my fault. I mean what if something happens to Dara? Like she could be dead, or worse."

Stepping back, Mr. Woolsey raises an eyebrow towards her. "What could possibly worse than her being dead?"

"She could be pregnant."

* * *

Gilda walks over towards her horse and gingerly picks up Lukai's shirt off the saddle. Before she could turn around, she could feel Lukai's arms wrap around her waist. She could feel his lips press against her head. "Lukai, I can't. Not again."

"Don't worry. I just want to take in this one moment, before I lose you. Is that so much to ask?"

Trying to hold back what she couldn't deny being tears, she shakes her head. "Yes, it is." Finally not being able to handle the overwhelming emotions, she shoves Lukai's shirt back into his hands. Not even looking at him, she manages to get up on her horse by herself and quickly rides out into the sad and crying world.

* * *

Princess Gilda stood at her father's side that night. No one seemed to noticed how differently her and Lukai seemed to acted toward each other. Granted it helped that they both were good at acting like nothing happened. As she stood at attention, she watched as one of the servants near the door, straighten up and ran over toward's the King's side. "My liege. Prince Tavius, has arrived."

"Good, good. Please, bring him this way."

Fidgeting, Gilda picks at her very fancy dress. She really wished that she wasn't in a dress, but in a loose pair of leggins and shirt.

About that time, King Xanos happen to look down and notice the fact she was picking at her dress. "A little nervous, dear?"

Looking up, she blinks at him. "Is it that obvious?"

"Just a little, sweety."

Tavius finally made his way in front of King Xanos and Princess Gilda. Bowing low towards the King, he says, "Your Majesty. It is an honor to finally meet you." Standing up he looks towards Princess and a smile slowly creeps across his face. Bending low once more, he takes her hand and places a kiss upon it. "Princess Gilda. You're more beautiful than what I have heard."

Holding her head up, so it hopefully appeared that she was looking down at him. "That is good to know, Prince Tavius."

King Xanos looks between his daughter and Prince Tavius, trying to judge what he seen going on between them. Finally giving up on that thought, he clears his throat, getting both their attentions. "I've had a banquet prepared in the honor of your visit. Please, this way."

"Thank you, your Majesty. It is more of an honor for me, than it is for you."

There was something about him that really wanted to make Gilda to snort at him. She tried to mull over the fact as they made their way into the banquet hall and took their seats at the head table. As she sat there, she ignored as Tavius tried to strike up a conversation with her. After a couple of tries, he gives up and manages to strike up a conversation with her father. It took all her considerable effort to only focus on eating her food. The only thing that seemed to finally get her attention was when she heard her father mentioning Ambrose's name.

"Yes, I can point out all four of the members of the team that removed my sister's most powerful weapon from her hands." Quickly he does just that and points out Lukai, Ambrose, Seleaha, and Jerkels.

"And what about my daughter?" King Xanos asks as a look of fear flits across his face.

Tavious look towards her and seems to be sizing her up for the first time. "I hate to be rude, but what about your daughter?"

"She has become quit attached to some of those men that you speak of."

"I'm sure she has. They are very good at integrating into where they need to be, in order to bring down the ruler's power."

Gilda didn't like where the conversation was going, so she pretended not to be paying attention to what they were talking about. She figured it would be best if they assumed she was still in her own little world.

"What do you think I should do?" King Xanos asked, hoping to get another bead on his character.

"My best bet is to kill them. I wouldn't normally recommend it, but they do travel around a lot and dethroning people. We haven't be able to prove it, but we believe it was them that actually tricked Otho into turning on our father. They killed him, when he was of no use to them anymore."

Nodding, King Xanos was really starting to agree with him. "Yes, but let's not do it now. Late tonight when most of them are a sleep. I don't want to hurt my daughter's feelings."

"Of coarse, your Majesty."

* * *

Princess Gilda crept through the halls once more, in the dark of night. This time, it was a completely different mind set that what it was the last time she did it. When she finally reached the door she wanted, she quietly knocks on it, hoping that she got the occupant's attention. After about a minute, she could see the door open up a crack. "Lukai?"

At the sound of her voice, he swings the door fully open and gives her a kind of smirk that seem to fit well on his face. "Princess. Did you come to tell me that you want to run away with me?"

Raising her eyebrow towards him, she had to resist the urge to smack him in the arm. "No, but I did come to tell you, that you do need to run away."

A confused look seemed to sweep across his face, just before a serious look took it's place. "Is there a reason for this?"

"Yes. I over heard Tavius's conversation with my father. He lied about you, Jerkels, Ambrose, and Seleaha."

"So, I'll just go to him in the morning and correct it. The matter will be fixed then. Please return to your room, Princess."

"No, Lukai!" she says sternly. So sternly, that the both of them we surprised by the force of her voice. She was sure then, that she had his complete and serious attention. "He suggested to father about killing you four. The sad thing is, father is going to do it. He very well may have guards coming for you now, because he was planning on doing it tonight."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. We need to get you guys out of here."

Lukai quickly steps out of his room and quietly closes the door behind him. "Come on, let's get the others."

Soon they were running through the halls, reaching at everyone's door. After they got the small group together, they stood in a small dusty room, trying to come up with a plan. "So, what do we do, Lukai?" Ambrose asks.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"I'm sorry, but you seem like enough of a leader type to get us out of here."

"Or at least you see him enough of one, that you can count on him to get you out, even at the expense of his own life."

"No, we never leave a man behind."

Lukai looked around the group, trying to think of something. "I'm willing to take any suggestions."

Jerkels looks up as if an idea had struck him. "We get to the Stargate and I'll put in for the King's hunting grounds."

"Is that not one of the places they will be looking for us?" Seleaha asks.

"They won't expect it, if we weigh down our horses and send them in the opposite direction," replies Lukai.

"That just might work," responds Ambrose.

"Good, it's settle then. Let's get going." Soon the group was moving through the castle at a high rate of speed. The only thing that slowed them down from running out right was the fact they were trying to be stealthy at it. When they finally reached the hall where the group had to split between going to the Stargate or for the Stables, Lukai signals the rest of the group to head for the Stargate. He turns towards the stables to go set up the decoy, when Gilda steps in front of him, blocking his path. "Princess, you should follow the others."

Shaking her head she looks at him. "No, I'll set up the decoy. It'll be better if I do it."

He gave her this questioning look, when it dawned on him. "You can come with us. You know this way we can be together."

Shaking her head again, she sighs. "If I do, my father will be more furious with the fact you kidnapped me. This way, you guys have a good head start and he won't push the search as hard."

He carefully places his hand on her cheek and touches his forehead to her's. "Please."

"I'm sorry, Lukai. If I have to help you live, then this must be done."

He gives her a quick kiss before pulling away. "I'll come back for you."

As Gilda watched him run off, she barely whispers, "I hope you don't. I want you to live."

After she seen him disappear beyond the tree line, she quickly pivots on her heel and sets of the decoy. Once she let the horses loose, she sighs in relief. Knowing that she did a job well done, she slowly makes her way back towards her room. She had only made it to the Grand Hall when major dizzy spell over took her. After a few steps, the dizzy spell got the better of her and she fell down to a crumpled heap on the floor.

* * *

Maj. Lorne sighed as his eyes sweep the area they were currently in. This was the tenth planet he had been to, in hopes to try and find John's team. There was something about this planet though that gave him a good feeling. He watched as one of his team members headed back and shakes his head toward him. Sighing once more, one thought seemed to cross his mind. "The UAV showed us a rocky out crop due south of the Gate, right? Maybe we should check it out. Couldn't hurt to try."

Soon his team was moving towards the out crop. Once he was in sight of it, he could actually see a cave in the direction where they were heading. "Let's check that out," he says pointing to the opening. As they made their way in, his team and him heard a scrape sound, as if a shoe moved on the surface. They swing their guns and lights towards the sound. In the light they could see Lt. Col. Sheppard in some strange clothing and holding a knife towards them. "Sir, it's good to see you. Maybe you should put the knife down."

John Sheppard didn't look like he quite heard him. As Maj. Lorne studied him, he could tell that he didn't look to good. Not wanting to make a sudden move, so not to give him a reason to attack, they heard a voice call out from behind John.

"Lukai..."

Maj. Lorne and his team watched as Col. Sheppard turned around, like they weren't there, and went deeper into the cave. Evan looked at his team and asks, "Did that sound like Dr. McKay?"

When the members nodded, he turns towards the direction that Col. Sheppard had just went. Thinking it was the best course of action, they followed after him. When they entered the "room" they seen him squating over the form of Dr. McKay. When he happen to hear them enter after him, he stands up in a rush, pointing the knife back at them. "Sir, that's not a good idea."

For a minute or two he seemed to stand there, wavering. Maj. Lorne rushed forward when he seen his eyes roll back into his head and he started to fall over. Looking over at one of his men, he says, "Get to the Gate and dial Atlantis. Tell them, we found them." Doing a quick head count, he corrects himself. "Most of them. Also tell them to send a medical team."

Nodding towards his order, his man takes off for the Gate.

* * *

Kimberley sat in her chair, starring at John's team. She had been in that spot since she found out they brought them in. Biting her thumb nail, she was really getting worried now. They had managed to find John, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon, but Dara wasn't with them. What was even stranger was the fact that when they found them, they had on some strange set of clothes.

About that time, Carson came up behind her, scaring her when he said, "Hen?"

Trying to get her heart back into its place she looks at him. "Yes, Carson?"

"You don't have to wait here. I can radio you, when they wake up."

Shaking her head, vetoing that idea, she says, "You know I can't do that Carson."

Leaning down he kisses her forehead. "I know, hen, I know. You know I had to try and ask."

"I know."

A groan rose up from John's bed. Turning they both look over towards his way. He managed to peel one eye open, long enough to know he didn't like the amount of light. "Can you two keep it down. I have one mother of a hangover."

Carson and Kimberley quickly make their way over towards John's bed side. "John, how are you feeling?" Carson asks.

Finally opening his eyes enough to notice the two of them, he groans. "I think I mentioned the hangover. What happened?"

Carson looks over at Kimberley, who just shrugged at him. "You had a high foreign chemical in your blood system. You are feeling the after effects of the withdrawal from it. Do you know how you got it in your system?"

Wincing in pain, he tries to think back. "No. How long have I been out?"

"Only a few hours," Carson responds.

Finally getting fed up with the direction the conversation wasn't going, Kimberley speaks up, "Do you know where Dara is at?"

That got John's attention, to the point where he seemed to forget about his current condition. "What?" Trying to get a good look at the beds near him, he could only see Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla. "She should be with us!" Turning towards Kimberley with a glare, as if it was her fault, he asks, "What happened?"

"We don't know John!" Kimberley yells back at him. "That's why I asked! You guys have been gone for over a week!"

"A week?" Looking towards Carson, as if he was trying to confirm what Kimberley just said. Carson just nods, causing John's mind to reel. "How? I don't remember anything. Last thing I remember was we stepped through the Gate to explore P3X-982, then waking up here."

Clearing his throat, Carson gets John's attention. "I'm not sure, but I think it may have something to do with the chemical that was in your system."

"We have to find her," John says as he throws back his covers.

"Uh, John, I don't believe you want to do that," Carson comments on the fact that John was about to get out of the bed.

Not listening, John swings his feet over the edge and sets them down on the floor. He managed to take a few steps, before he lost his balance and hit the floor.

Carson mumbles some curse words under his breath, before saying loud enough, "People should listen to their doctor more often."

* * *

Kimberley sat in the conference room with John's team and Maj. Lorne's team, waiting for Mr. Woolsey to enter. It had taken John's team a whole day to recover, before they were even allowed to leave the infirmary. Sighing, she didn't like having to wait any longer than what she did, but she had too.

About that time, Mr. Woolsey finally decided to enter the conference room. Sitting down at his usual spot, he looks at the two groups gathered there. "So, you would like permission to return to the planet that Maj. Lorne and his team found you at?"

"Yes, sir," John says, trying not to push his luck, too much.

"Can you give me one good reason why I should let you go back there?" Mr. Woolsey questioned. Kimberley wanted to speak up, but Mr. Woolsey beat her to the punch. "Besides the obvious reason."

"I was hoping, that while we're there, we get back some of our memories. It may be the only lead we have on Dara."

Mr. Woolsey looks at both groups with consideration. Putting his pen down on to the briefing paper, he nods towards them. "You have a go."

"Thanks, Mr. Woolsey," John says in a rush, as he gets up in a hurry.

"Oh and Colonel," Mr. Woolsey says, stopping John by getting his attention. "Please bring her back, safely."

"Don't worry about that, Mr. Woolsey."

* * *

John's Team, Lorne's Team, and Kimberley step out of the event horizon of the Stargate. Looking around, John's Team couldn't make heads or tails of the surrounding area. "You found us where, Major?"

Maj. Lorne stands next to John and points towards the south. "In a cave, over there. If you want, I can show you?"

"No thanks. I think we'll go and check it out. You stay here and guard the Gate."

"Yes, sir."

As John, Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla headed towards the cave, Kimberley jogs to catch up to John's side. "So, what's the plan?" she asks.

"I don't know. I've just been trying to play it by ear. That's the best I've got."

Sighing, Kimberly glances back at the group. "I hope it works."

"So do I."

"On the bright side," Kimberley says with a smile, trying to keep John's and her hopes up. "You're plans that are played by the ear are way better than mine."

When they made it into the cave, the team begins to look around. After a few minutes, Rodney speaks up. "This isn't doing us any good. We're not going to find any evidence here."

"McKay!" John yells at him, not one for giving up.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm giving up. I'm just saying this isn't helping me any. Maybe if I get all the addresses that the DHD received and sent, maybe one of them will jog my memory."

"Um," Kimberley says, getting Rodney's attention. "Radek already did that. If you want I can give you the list?"

"Wait! You have the list on you, now?"

"Yeah." Kimberley pulls her backpack off and opens it up. After a minute or two, she pulls out a stack of papers. "Here," she says as she hands them to Rodney.

"This is quit interesting," Rodney says as he wanders off a little ways to study the list.

"Anything on there that may help us?" Teyla asked.

"No, nothing yet, but I'll let you know."

Sighing, John runs his had through his hair. "Okay, I guess we can call it."

"What? We haven't even tried, Sheppard," Ronon says angrily.

"Just for now, okay. I'm not saying we're completely giving up."

"Whatever," Ronon replies, as he turns and heads for the Stargate.

Kimberley watched him walk away, then turns towards John. "Don't tell me you of all people are giving up, now?"

"I'm not saying that!" John hollers back at her. "All I am saying, is it's getting dark and we can't run around like chickens with our heads cut off. That is all!"

"So, what do you suppose we do?" Teyla asks.

"Let's go back to Atlantis and come back early tomorrow morning. That way we'll have all day to look, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, sure," Rodney mumbles from behind a stack of papers.

Soon, the group was making their way back to the Stargate. They were within feet of it, when they noticed Ronon wasn't just waiting for them, he was making motions with his hands. John goes over to Ronon's side and looks over at Maj. Lorne. Lorne happened to catch the look and just shrugs his shoulders in return. "Whatcha doing, buddy?" John asks.

"I think I remember a Gate address, but I'm not sure."

"Really?" John asks as he watched Ronon.

"If it helps any," Kimberley says. "Try making the motion of dial that Gate address, with your hand."

Ronon nods and closes his eyes. Slowly his hand moves up and down, as if he was pressing the symbols on the DHD. After a while, he slowly opens his eyes and smiles. "I think I have it."

Rodney almost drops the stack of papers he was holding. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Rushing over towards his side, he holds the papers out toward Ronon. "Show us with one it is."

Grabbing the stack of papers, he quickly thumbs through them, until he finds one. Pointing to it he says, "That's the one."

John looks at the group, then towards Maj. Lorne's team. "Dial up Atlantis. Tell them we have another lead and we're going to follow through with it. Send them the address as well."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

John, Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, and Kimberley slowly moved through the crowd on the narrow cobble stone street. As they tried not to make to much attention for themselves, they noticed how bright and festive it seemed.

"What is going on? Some sort of party?" Rodney asks.

"Hopefully we can get some information from the people around here," Teyla responds.

Being more curious than the rest of the group, Kimberley goes over to a vendor and smiles. "Heya!"

"Hello, Ma'am! May I interest you in some lovely cloth for a pretty woman, like you?"

Shaking her head, she continues to smile. "No, thank you. I was wondering if you could tell me what is going on here?"

"Why, it's the engagement party. Prince Tavius is engaged to our Princess Gilda. It is a grand day indeed."

"Thanks!" Quickly she trots back over to the group and smiles again. "It seems they're celebrating the fact that their Princess is engaged."

"That's nice for them," John casually responds as he tried to sweep the crowd for Dara's face.

"Though, I wonder why the name Tavius sounds familiar," Kimberley says with a thoughtful face.

The group looks at her like she had revealed the address of Atlantis to the crowd. "Tavius? As in the Lord Protector, Tavius?" John questions.

Kimberley snaps her fingers and points her finger towards John. "I knew I heard the name somewhere."

"What's he done now?" Ronon asks.

"Supposedly, he his engaged to their Princess. Princess Gilda."

"Maybe we should tell the ruler of this planet what kind of man Tavius is," John says. "Hopefully he'll reward us, by helping us find Dara."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Kimberley nods in agreement.

Soon they make their way towards the castle and managed to get into the entry hall. As they stood there, waiting to be next in line to talk to King, a couple of servants that went by seemed to be giving everyone, but Kimberley funny looks. "Is it me or is it very eery on the looks these people are giving us."

"Tell me about," John mumbles over towards Rodney's direction. After a while, time seemed to stretch on and on. As John sat on the bench, hoping that the line would move soon, he began to notice some of the people around him straightening up. Looking around more intently, he could tell they were actually seeing someone of importance coming down the stairs. His eyes wander in the direction that most of the people's seemed to glancing towards, when his brain did a 360. "I found her."

"What?" Rodney leans in, trying to hear what he said.

Point towards the stairs, he says, "There. That's her!"

The group turns towards the stairs to see a woman, wearing a long, fluffy, velvet like dress. She had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and said a few words towards the guard. Nodding, he lets her pass as she quickly makes her way down the hall.

Finally having her within reach, John didn't even realize he tried to go after her, until a guard stopped him in his path. "I'm sorry, sir. This corridor is now off limits."

Trying to look innocent, he smiles. "Sorry, I thought I recongnized her. I thought she might be someone I knew when I was younger. I was hoping to speak with her, to see if I was right."

The guard smirks, as if he was amusing a crazy person. "Yeah, sure. I'll be sure to ask the Princess if she's known you before. Be on your way."

John gives one more glance down the corridor, before he turns back to his group. When he got closer to them, he could see them stand up and look at him, hoping for good news. When he got close enough, he began to speak in a low whisper. "We have a problem. It is her."

"How is that a problem?" Rodney asks.

Giving Rodney a dirty look for interrupting him, he continues on. "She is the Princess."

"You most be joking, right?" Teyla questions, knowing her friend would never take a title or that kind of responsibilities.

Shaking his head, John responds, "No, unfortunately I'm not."

"Then may I suggest, we get out of here," Rodney says.

"Not when we are so close," Ronon growls as he steps really close to Rodney, trying to threaten him.

"I don't mean out of here all together, but out of this room. Anyone that takes her in as a Princess isn't about to give her up, without a fight."

"I hate to say it, but I think Rodney has a point," Kimberley throws in.

John looks around the room, then nods. "Okay then, this way."

Soon they were making through all sorts of different corridors, trying to avoid the ones that had guards running around in them. After a few minutes of getting lost, they managed to stumble into the stables. Much to their horror, there were a couple of guards, with sword points at their throats. "Evening, gentlemen. We kind of got lost."

The head guard narrowed his eyes towards John. "Sure you did. Just in the prefect place, I see."

"Dornes, just let them go back they way they came. No one has to get hurt."

The group stops and stares as Dara stared down the guard named Dornes. She was slowly trying to lead a horse out of it's stall.

"I was curious, may I talk with her?" John asked Dornes.

Leaning in and giving off an evil grin he calmly replies, "No, you may not. Now, go back the way you came."

Not being the one to give up, John calls out, "Princess! May I talk with you?"

Stopping, she turns to look at him and the small group. Sighing, she calmly tries to say, "No, you may not. I do not have any interest in talking to people I do not know."

Carefully, she gets up on the horse and makes it head towards the stable doors. John could almost feel her slipping out of his grasp. Resorting to one last desperate measure, he calls out, "DARA!"

That got her to stop, and for a second later, she slowly turned towards him. He could tell that something struck her deep with her own name, but couldn't quit place where. Getting down from her horse, she swiftly walks towards them. When she was standing almost in front of them, she says sternly, "Leave us!"

Smiling, the guards pointed there swords towards to the group, ready to push John, Kimberley, Ronon, Rodney, and Telya out the door.

He could hear a growl of anger come from the girl he cared about. "Not them, you."

All the guards turned towards her in shock. Not knowing what to say or do, the guards left the stables. Once John was sure that the idiots were out of ear shot, he says, "Dara, you have to-"

Raising her hand, pretty much commanding him to stop, she stares him down. "Lukai, I don't know how you managed to come back without getting caught. Not to mention the fact that somehow that word effected me more than anything. I told you, I can't go with you. Your lives will be in too much danger if I do. My father will pull the worse possible tortures on you and then some. So, go, before you get discovered."

Not knowing what to do or say, he could feel Kimberley move somewhere behind him. Could almost swear, she was also whispering something to Ronon. Not more than a second later, he had his answer when a red blast hits her, causing her to crumple to the ground. Turning, he glares at the two offenders. "What the hell was that?"

"Would have taken to much time," Ronon responds casually.

"You should have seen how you guys didn't recongnize anyone when you came back to Atlantis. Granted, you were more out of it than she was," Kimberley says with a smirk.

Telya looks at the rest of them and sighs. "We best leave out that way. I am sure that her guards will be here any second."

"Good idea," John replies.

* * *

Groaning, Dara places her hands over her closed eyes. "Someone please make that evil light go away," she barely manages to whisper out. Hearing a click, it surprised her that it instantly got just a little less bright. Slowly pulling her hands away, then peeling an eye open, she sees John sitting there smiling. "Hey, what happened?"

Giving off a smile, he answers the question with another question. "What do you remember last?"

"Going to that planet. Ummmm, P3X-982 and then the next thing is waking up here."

"Well, we don't know exactly for sure, but we did piece together a somewhat interesting picture."

"That is?" Dara asked as she rubbed her temples, trying to make the major headache to go away.

"I'll tell you about it later, when you are feeling a little more better," John replies, just before he leans down and kisses her on the cheek. Standing back up, he heads for the door, only to stop long enough to finish his sentence. "Princess."

Blinking at the now empty doorway, Dara could only respond, "Huh?"


	45. Happy Birthday

"...if I knew away to kill her but not have it tied back to me, I would!"

Len nodded as Dara ranted through the screen that connected the two puddle jumpers. She knew the older woman held no malice when it came to their common friend, hell she was more like a sister to them all, but Len knew that Kimberley got on Daras nerves (and everyone else's) quiet a lot some times.

"If she takes my puddle jumper one more time I swear to God they will not be able to find even the most minute traces of her!" Dara continued to rant, then she turned to her second in command. "I've watched enough CSI, NCIS and Bones to make sure they'll be judging weather she existed or not! Is there anyway Catherine can make the puddle jumper only react to my commands?"

Len shook her head. "You would be disadvantaging yourself if you do that. What if you get injured, and needed medical treatment?"

Daras eyes flashed as she thought of the James Bond movie where Bond dragged the bad guys dead body over to the palm reader, then flashed to Kolya and how he cut off Johns arm in Johns hallucination. She nodded. "You're right."

"Alert the media!" Catherine joked as she poked her head in.

"Hey Catherine, how are your birthday plans going?" Dara asked the about to turn 15 year old.

"Pretty good." Catherine nodded her head. "Mama is letting me have a HUGE party, its Lord of The Rings themed, you're going to come, right?"

Dara glanced at the notes she had been double checking with Len and shook her head. "I don't think we'll be able to make it Catherine."

"What, even Kimberley can't come?" Catherine and Len shared a look. "Is she hurt that bad?"

"She needed a few skin grafts, and some counselling." Dara nodded her head. "And I've kind of grounded her."

"Kimberley is a fully matured woman, how can you ground her?" Catherine looked at her like she just told her John was going to be Kolyas love monkey.

"Even though we aren't military, Kimberley still looks to me as the leader, and what I says goes. Plus she's pretty much put herself into self exile." Dara replied.

"Hmm..." Catherine replied, her eyes looking down at her toes, eye furrowing together.

Len looked at her sister suspiciously before nodding to Dara. "Is there anything else you need? I've got a project due in tomorrow that I want to have another look over."

"No I'm good." The girls quickly said their goodbyes and Len waited before turning to her sister who was muttering to herself. "What are you planning?"

Catherine looked at her sister and grinned. "How attached to your bed are you?"

Len narrowed her eyes. "How attached to breathing are you?"

"I can replace the bed frame." Catherine rolled her eyes.

"I can crush your larynx." Len promised.

Catherine sighed in aggravation before throwing her hands in the air. "*Bloody sisters!*"

Len rolled her eyes and pulled up her essay on 'Money Saving and Today's Economic Climate' before popping her head on her hand and began scanning her homework.  
o0o  
Hours later Len had just finished fixing the grammar mistakes and was about to tackle the spelling when Catherine entered, her black and grey note pad attached to her hand. Len turned in her swivel chair and nodded to her. "What are you planning?"

"What's Kimberley's favourite colour?" Catherine ignored her question.

"Red, now-"

"And her star sign?"

"Capricorn but-"

"Height?"

"How the hell would I know?" Len yelled and snatched the note pad from her sisters hands. She groaned and looked at her sister seriously. "Catriana, what are you up to?"

"Me? Nothing." The youngest of their inter reality travelling group grinned in innocence.

"Is this going to be like the Robinson's Dog all over again?" Len asked.

"Not quite." Catherine chewed her lip. 'For one I won't get caught as quick.'

"What ever you're up to, keep me out of it!" Len demanded, standing up and left her room, doubling back to turn her computer off and glare at her smaller sister.

Catherine rolled her eyes and then looked worried. 'Who can I ask if I can't ask her or Kimberley?'

A thought flittered past about asking Dara, but Catherine batted that away quickly. Slowly a grin fell upon her youthful face and she reached for her older sisters old laptop, booting it up and looking around before taking it from the room with the intention of returning it.  
o0o  
"There's some activity at the girls Stargate." Chuck informed anyone passing.

Kimberley blinked and looked at the time, then the day of the week. "We getting a radio signal?"

"Not-yeah, its from Catherine." Chuck chucked at the thought of the Canadian child that had Rodney in second thoughts about not fathering children.

Kimberley waited for him to move over before she grabbed the controls, opening a channel and waited for the young one to began speaking.

"Is Kimberley there?" Catherine's voice was a little grainy and Kimberley frowned.

"I'm here. You've been up the last few nights quite late, haven't you?" She demanded.

"I received something, I'm sending it through, can you get to a planet soon?" Catherine ignored her.

Kimberley and Chuck looked to one another and frowned. "I can get a few of the guys to come with me in about half hour-"

"NO!" Catherine sounded like she was hiding something. "You need to come your self."

"What are you hiding?" Kimberley asked.

Catherine looked around before leaning in. Kimberley and Chuck copied the movement. "Daras birthday present."  
o0o  
Dara paused from where she had been shooting Kolyas Genii and frowned. 'I fell a disturbance in the force.'

"KEEP SHOOTING!" John yelled and she got her head back in the game.  
o0o  
A confused look fell on Kimberley's face, then she got excited, clapping her hands together. "Hey Chuck can you dial the gate for the planet next to our gate?"

Chuck glanced back at where Woolsey was having his lunch. "I don't know Kimberley."

"Please? I'll only be a few minutes! Len will come through with her puddle jumper, drop off the item and then I'll be back likety quick." Kimberley begged.

Again he glanced at where Woolsey was about to tuck into his lunch and nodded. "Alright, but take a gun with you."

She nodded and moved to the suit up room.

"A real one!" He called and chuckled as he heard her mutter 'shucks'.  
o0o  
Kimberley exited the gate and looked around the grassy planet, wondering where Len was. After walking around for a few minutes she sighed headed back for the gate, slamming into something not there.

'Wait...' She looked at the space where the should be nothing, and poked it.

Then jumped back as a puddle jumper shimmered into existence.

'A red puddle jumper.' She noted, walking inside the ship and looked for either Catherine or Len, frowning at the DVD player on the seat.

As she grabbed it and sat down she looked around the interior of the ship, noting the major similarities that it held compared to Len and Daras puddle jumpers.

'Hey Kimberley, since everyone else has one, I figured you'd need one to.' Catherine's face appeared on the screen, a smudge of oil across her cheek. 'Now I've made Jumper 3 to be more in line with your personality.'

'Oh that doesn't sound too good.' Kimberley frowned.

'The colour is red, and the interior design is just like any other jumper, except for one subtle difference.' Catherine pointed above her head and Kimberley followed suit. 'The bins can hold even more stuff than normal, and I have made a few like ice boxes.'

Kimberley looked back to the screen as Catherine pointed to several sections of the jumpers outside abilities.

'The jumper can cloak, and if need be look like a red Ford Kia.' Catherine motioned to the correct buttons to press to get it to work. 'If anything shows up in the scanner, then you will hear this noise.'

"WARNING! WARNING! SOMETHING BAD A COMING!"

"Jesus!" Kimberley exclaimed and clamped her hands on her ears, jostling her knees at the last second to save the computer.

'ITS LOUD YEAH?' Catherine yelled. 'But it means you'll hear it, and not be surprised when you change realities again. Oh that reminds me! If you look at the HUD, it should show you what reality you are in.'

Kimberley head turned to look at the screen which showed a picture of Atlantis at the top right corner.

'When you guys come home, it will look like Wal*Mart star burst.' Catherine continued talking. 'I'm working on something to add to all the puddle jumpers, but I'm not telling! But yours is the only one with enough space, since I took out a lot of stuff. Wasn't necessary the stuff, just, erm, stuff.'

Kimberley raised an eye brow, knowing that the early teen was lying her teeth off.

'Oh and do me a favour, tell McKay to keep his paws off of my puddle jumpers, and to stop messing with the time flux capacitator. The alarm is doing my head in!' She demanded.  
She nodded as though she could see her.

'You're nodding, aren't you?'  
o0o  
"Has anyone seen Kimberley?" Dara looked up as Carson and Ronon entered the gate room.

"You lost her?" Dara blinked.

"Uh, no, erm, she was supposed to meet us in the infirmary before heading to the training room an hour ago." Carson replied.

"I'll pull up her locator chip." Chuck nodded to them and began pressing buttons. He frowned.

"What?" Dara asked, moving to look over his shoulder.

Chuck looked at her.

Dara backed off.

"I can't find her location on Atlantis." Chuck explained, pressing a few more buttons. "Her signal was last sent when she went through the Stargate."

"She went through the Stargate?" Dara demanded, then frowned to herself. 'Don't tell me I have an internal 'Kimberley fucked up' alarm?'

"She could be anywhere!" Rodney stated.

"Patch through to my jumpers sensors and look for it that way." Dara nodded to him, then turned to look at Rodney. "Don't even thinking about it."

"I wasn't!" He denied.

"What were you thinking about?" John asked.

Rodney mumbled something and slunk away to his office. John grinned and shook his head, following his girlfriend to her puddle jumper.  
o0o  
Kimberley pressed random buttons on the jumper and frowned as the HUD screen came to life. It resembled a normal screen, except there was a transparent gold star, kitten and penguin along the bottom. Hesitantly she pressed the penguin and grinned as it squawked at her angrily. 'Neat! An call system, the kitty must be Dara, the star is Len, and the penguin is me.'

Time slowly ticked by and Kimberley explored the ship, frowning at the area that Catherine had stuck a note on it for Rodney. She glanced around the ship before she opened it, frowning as it gave him permission to make an install weapons on the ship. 'I thought she didn't like weapons?'  
o0o  
Dara suited herself up for the second time that day and nodded to Carson. "I advise against going Carson."

"You don't know what Kimberley has got herself mixed up in this time." Carson pointed out to her.

"True, that's why I said what I said." Dara returned.

"Can we have this domestic in the puddle jumper please?" John asked as he poked his head into the armoury to find what was taking them so long.

"Why, concerned about our friend?" Carson nodded to him.

Rodney snorted as he entered through the other door. "More likely concerned about what she shared."

Dara shook her head, knowing that this argument was going to keep going till doomsday if the guys had anything to do with it. "Can we just go get her please?"

"Yes sir!" John grinned to her.

Sighing, Dara shook her head and moved past him.  
o0o  
"HOW DO I TURN THIS OFF? HOW THE HELL DO I TURN THIS OFF?" Kimberley screamed to herself as she pressed random buttons, trying to turn the self destruct timer off.

"Self destruct has been paused." Catherine's voice called out and Kimberley sagged onto the console in happiness.

With her eyes closed she never saw the flashing light until she had to open them, her radio cracking to life.  
o0o  
"Her signals coming from on the planet." Rodney explained as he looked at his data pad.

"Where? There's nothing down there except for grass, grass and more grass." Carson replied to his friend.

"Well unless my technology is wrong then she is directly beneath us." Rodney snapped.

John tried to not roll his eyes but gave in as the two continued to nag at each other like an old married couple. He glanced over at Dara, who was staring at the screen in front of her, something obviously on her mind. "What's up?"

Slowly she blinked and looked at him. "I'm thinking about taking her back."

"Excuse me?" He asked, swerving the ship and causing everyone to clutch to their seats.

"She keeps causing too much hassle." Dara replied, nodding to him. "You were right, she doesn't belong in this universe, she's only going to get others hurt."

Carson frowned at Dara and John. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing." Dara kept her back to him and continued to stare directly at John.

Carson looked between the two and shook his head. 'They really are so much a like its kinda scary.'

"Look we'll land the jumper about a click away and walk back." John began, then spoke louder as Rodney began to moan. "By that time Kimberley should come out from where she is hiding."

"You think she's just hiding?" Dara asked.

John looked at her then nodded pretty positively.

As Dara wandered away Carson slid up to him. He looked at the foreign man with a raise brow. "Hoping that Chuck will make it out of the gate room alive?"

John continued nodding. "Already sent word back to get him off world before we get back."  
o0o  
Kimberley finished turning off the DVD player and grinned at the post is note stuck on the back of it, asking for her to return Lens electronic device soon.

Glancing at the screen she took a double take as she spotted the star bust glowing orange. 'Oh, crap.'  
o0o  
"I'm picking up an unusual energy reading from half a klick that way." Rodney motioned towards the direction away from the trees.

"There's nothing there Rodney." John groaned.

Dara glanced at him before popping her head over Rodney's shoulder, then nodded. "Its showing the heat of the area is slightly cooler than the rest. Its worth checking it out."

John looked at Dara, then Ronon who was standing guard and nodded. "Lets check it out. But no splitting up, got it."

"Sure, we'll stick together." Ronon nodded.

"Like birds of a feather." Teyla finished with a nod.

Dara nodded to them thankfully, then stopped as the words clicked in her brain. 'That girl!'  
o0o  
'Which button, which button, which butto-oh, that one.' Kimberley thought to herself and selected the button near the back of the hatch, grinning as it turned into a two way mirror and showed the outside of the jumper.

The grin fell as she noted the star burst was glowing red with little flames shooting off it. 'Oh, crap.'

Rushing to the controls she began looking for the buttons to start the jumper, closing her eyes and looked deep into her memory before the popped open and, using more confidence than she thought she had, she began flying the puddle jumper towards the large area of trees, landing with a thump as the jumpers power shut off.

Kimberley jumped off of the chair but her feet were caught on a small brightly wrapped bag at the bottom of the chair.

Landing and banging her head Kimberley winced, pushing herself up and turned to look at the bag, then grinned as she let everything connect in her head.

She grabbed the bag, then the portable DVD player, before standing up and moving to the door.  
o0o  
John frowned as he pushed his sun glasses above his head, glancing around the area. "Any sign of her or the signal?"

"Its moving." Rodney commented, his device pointing west, before scanning the sky and pointing behind him.

"Where the hell is she?" Dara muttered mostly to herself.

"Perhaps we should split up?" Teyla suggested.

Ronon nodded. "Teyla and I'll head to the trees, you and Sheppard take the rocky formation on the left."

"What about me?" Rodney asked.

"Stay with the Jumper." Teyla and Ronon replied at the same time.

Dara placed her head in her hands. 'They are not watching anything with her again!'

"Whose now watching what with who?" Kimberley asked as she appeared at Daras side.

"They're not watching TV with Kimberley again." Dara groaned to her. Then did a double take. "Kimberley!"

"Hey-oow!" Kimberley jumped back and rubber her arm. "What was that for?"

"Disappearing!" Dara yelled.

"I was right here!" Kimberley returned.

"You went off world, with no back up, no one knowing where you were, and no weapon!" Dara screamed.

"Look what happened the last time I had a weapon!" Kimberley snapped and threw something at her. "Happy Catherine's birthday."

"Why did Dara get a gift from Catherine on her birthday?" Ronon asked as Dara glared at her friend one more time before ripping the packaging off.

"Oh my God its the full six seasons of Supernatural!" Dara grinned, grabbing the box from Johns hands and scanned the information. "Next time I see Catherine I'm going to - kill her!"

"Huh?" John asked, glancing at his girlfriend thoroughly confused.

"REGION ONE!" Dara yelled, then looked at Kimberley who started laughing. She glared at her. "Just wait till I get you home missy."


	46. Todd Returns

"You seen Kimberley?" Dara asked Carson, who began to shake his head, and then nod.

"She's meditating with Teyla." Carson replied.

"Thanks Carson." Dara nodded her head to him, heading to the room that was fit for purpose.  
o0o  
Teyla cracked an eye open and smiled at Kimberley, whose face was serenely calm. As she moved room, close her eye she heard shoes scuffle near the door.

Dara entered the room and nodded to Teyla, head turning to Kimberley, pausing as she blinked. 'Is she sitting at an angle?'

"Have you come to join us?" Teyla asked Dara.

Dara shook her head no. "It doesn't do anything for me. You guys almost done?"

"Nearly." Kimberley spoke softly, breathing out slowly before her eyes sprang open. "Morning Dara!"

"Don't morning me, you were supposed to meet Rotella an hour ago, he called me when you didn't turn up." Dara reminded her. "When did I turn into your PA?"

Teyla frowned. "What is a Pee Ay?"

"It's kinda like a slave." Kimberley replied and moved to stand up, falling back due to sitting at an angle.

Teyla aided the female to stand and smiled to Kimberley as she blushed. "This has been a pleasant time, I am glad to have won my bet."

Kimberley glowered at her. "What did you bet?"

"Probably that you could be quiet." Dara grinned.

"Hey I did a sponsored silence for a week in high school!" Kimberley glared as they laughed, then frowned. "We don't hang out much."

"Her face is slightly scary." Teyla spoke quietly to Dara.

"Meh, you get used to it." Dara shrugged. "What are you planning?"

"Who, me?" She grinned innocently.

Dara and Teyla quirked their eyebrows.

"We should meet up once a week." Kimberley replied.

"Why?" Dara was suspicious.

Kimberley shrugged. "We're a minority, why not hang together? We used to before ah, before everything got a little too hectic in our lives?"

"Once a week Kanaan has begun to take Torren to his parents." Teyla smiled.

"Sweet!" Kimberley grinned.

"Hold on a minute, I didn't agree to anything." Dara shook her head.

Teyla grabbed Kimberleys hands and they brought them together to look at Dara. "Please?"

Dara shook her head at their pouting face, before speaking to Kimberley. "Will you stop corrupting the friendly aliens!"

Kimberley opened her mouth.

"All aliens!" Dara corrected quickly.

Kimberley pouted and tried to look mad as the girls laughed together.  
o0o  
Scott turned his head as he heard the familiar laughter of the alternate reality girls and groaned to himself. "Taking my break."

John and Davvy watched their boss man leave and grinned to each other. John then frowned. "Didn't he agree to teach Kimberley how to make cookies without killing anyone?"

Davvy nodded as he shrugged. "Yeah, but to cook with her he has to psyck him self up."

"Don't blame him." The older of the two grumbled.

Teyla entered the mess hall first, followed by Kimberley, who was walking backwards as she chatted to Dara, who rolled her eyes as people swerved to avoid the ignorant female.

Finally, Kimberley bumped into someone and crashed to the ground. Quickly she jumped up and began to apologies. "Oh God Ronon, I am so sorry!"

"It's all right." Ronon replied, looking as though there was still a thorn in his paw.

"What's up?" Kimberley asked as she brushed him down.

Ronon growled.

Kimberley jumped back.

Dara rolled her eyes. "Who spit in your bean curd?"

Ronon continued to growl, even while looking confused.

The girls turned to one another and rolled their eyes. 'Wraith in Atlantis.'

John poked his head from behind Ronon and nodded to them. "Hey guys, you get Woolsey's message?"

They shook their heads and glared at Radek who walked past them.

"What did he do now?" John asked.

Kimberley glared at Radek, who eeped before rushing away.

"Trust us, you don't want to know." Dara replied, crossing her arms and nodded to Ronon. "What's up with him?"

"Todd's here." John motioned with his head to where the Wraith was sitting at a table, watching everyone pass him with suspicion.

Kimberley stuck her head around them to get her first glance of the Wraith and burst into laughter.

Dara frowned, and followed her line of sight before rolling her eyes.

"Why is Kimberley making that noise?" Teyla asked.

"Hailing! Todd! HA!" Kimberley continued to he-haw, even as everyone looked at her more oddly than usual.

"So what's he here for?" Dara asked.

"He's helping McKay work on the organic wraith code for the hives." John answered her question.

"And we're helping him why?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

"He says he has some key information about Michael's latest experiments and movements." Rodney snapped at her.

Dara glared at his retreating back as he made his way over to where Todd was sitting beside the Athosian man. "What's with him?"

"Mister Woolsey decided that since he and Todd will be working together then he should be running interference for him." John called her attention to him. "You having something to eat?"

"Naa, but I'll sit with you." Dara replied, they began making their way to where Rodney was grumbling to himself, and Todd was looking around amusedly.

"I'm going to grab a sandwich and take it to Carson." Kimberley informed them once her face had returned to its normal color, nodded to them, before grabbing two random sandwiches from the pile, and legged it from the room.

"What's with her?" John asked Dara, who shrugged.

Together they crossed the distance to the table in the middle and sat around the table, John keeping Todd from Dara, who rolled her eyes at his attempt at chivalry.

Todd inclined his head towards Dara as she finally let her eyes settle on him. "Dara, Baldwin?"

"Todd." Dara nodded to him with guarded eyes. "How do you find Atlantis?"

"Like a fast food restaurant." Todd chuckled to himself as his guards raised their guns towards him.

"Eh heh, sure." Dara returned, shifting slightly to look at John but keep Todd in her sights. "What are you doing later?"

"Looking over some intel." He replied, eyes completely on their Wraith frenemy. "Hopefully it'll be good enough to save lives."

"The information that I will be giving you will be more than satisfactory." Todd replied. "It is up to you to make the information that you receive mean something."

Dara rolled her eyes but remained tight lipped as he looked around the table, his gaze settling on her before falling on McKay. "Have you eaten your fill in order for us to return to work?"

Rodney, who was stuffing a piece of pie into his mouth, paused with the fork an inch from his face and it flushed. "Uh, sure."

"Will you be joining us?" Todd asked Dara, who backed up slightly.

'Is he-naa.' She internally shook her head, and then motioned with her finger to John beside her. "It's up to him."

John looked between them and nodded slowly. "I can't see a problem with that. If Dara doesn't have a problem with that."

Todd rose slowly, allowing the guards plenty of time to get their sights back on him and nodded to her. "Shall we?"

Dara looked to the rest of them before standing up and following the Wraith and his guards to the room they were using.  
o0o  
Inside the room, Rodney sipped at his cup of coffee as he ran a search of the database, looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. Finding nothing, he decided to be sneaky and searched through the folder that Todd had been designated, and frowned as two files appeared. He opened one up and found the notes of the things they had been working on.

With a content nod to himself, congratulating himself for keeping Todd out of trouble, he opened the other file and scanned it, before his face paled.

Rodney glanced over at Todd and his eyes widened. "What are you dong? We're trusting you!"

Todd paused typing and reading, turning to the human scientist. "What are you prattling on about now?"

"This?" Rodney motioned to the screen.

Todd glanced at the Wraith writing and frowned. "That is not my writing."

Rodney blinked. "Oh. Sorry."

Todd inclined his head.

"Wait." Rodney called out.

Todd sighed, paused typing and looked at the Earthling. "What now?"

"If you didn't type this, who did?" Rodney asked.

Todd continued to look at him, shrugged and resumed his work.

Dara listened to their exchange and closed her eyes before rolling them. 'I am going to kill that girl!'

"Everything okay McKay?" Lorne asked the still looking annoyed man.

Rodney looked at Evan with a look just short of panic. "I think we have a security problem."  
o0o  
Woolsey and John looked at Rodney. "What do you mean, 'security problem'?"

"I mean, there is a file within the Atlantis database that contains Wraith code." Rodney explained, motioning with both hands to the file that was in front of him and everyone else. "Todd refuses to look at it until after he finished the work on his Wraith Hive."

"Yeah well, his Wraith are getting a little bit itchy about being stuck in the holding cells." John added, shuffling about in his chair a little.

"You could let them loose in the city in specified areas." Kimberley suggested as she joined the meeting.

Ronon smirked. "Makes it more like duck hunting that shooting fish in a barrel."

Dara rolled her eyes and smacked Kimberley in the shoulder before slugging Ronon in the arm. "Stop encouraging her!"

Woolsey took a deep breath, which caused everyone to look at him. "Unfortunately we only have Todd to trust enough to tell us what the file says. We will have to wait until the work he is doing is complete, and pray that he will inform us what the message is without any double dealing."

"And also pray that it isn't a slow time code that's going to erase all of the data in the computers." Dara threw into the ring.

"What code?" Kimberley asked.

"The code in front of you." Ronon whispered to her.

Kimberley nodded in thanks, then glanced at it and paled.

Dara turned to look at her friend, and frowned.

For the rest of the meeting the two remained in silence, unaware of the looks they were receiving.  
o0o  
Dara entered the secure room beside the room Todd was working in and nodded to Miko as she made her way over to her.

"Hey Miko, can you print me off a copy of Todd's notes?" Dara asked Miko who looked around before nodding. 'What a rebel!'

She nodded to Miko as she handed her a print out. Dara left the room and jumped into a transporter, ringing the bell of Kimberley and Carson's room, pausing before Kimberley opened the door.

"Did you get my message?" Dara asked.

"Message?" Kimberley blinked, turning to the table beside the door, jumping as Dara touched her lower back.

"This message." Dara waved the post it notes in her direction.

Kimberley took it, read it, and then frowned, glancing at the papers in her friends other hand. "Do I gotta?"

"You are the only one that can read Wraith." Dara reminded her.

"There is a reason it's a secret." She muttered, glaring at her friend as she hit her with the notes.

"Get to work; they're going to start making the machine soon." Dara asked.

"Why don't you trust Todd?" Kimberley asked, leafing through the papers.

"He's a Wraith!" Dara exclaimed. "Now get to work Monkey!"

"Yes master." Kimberley joked, entering her room and plopped the papers on her desk, looking around before grabbing a file from under her bed, plopping onto the chair and put her headphones in.  
o0o  
A short time later Dara returned from her walk around the city and knocked on Kimberleys room door. Getting no response, she glanced around quickly before working her magic and entered the room, stopping at the sight of Kimberley still working on the translation. "Do you want me to go round for another round?"

"What?" Kimberleys head flew up and her glasses slid from her face to her expectant hand. "No, no. I was just, erm, double checking I had it right."

"Why?" Dara frowned. "You don't usually double check translations unless there is something up with them."

Kimberley bit her lip.

"Kimberley, what is it!" Dara demanded and stepped forward to grab the piece of paper.

Her friend handed them over without any other prompting and Dara glared at the paper before storming out of the room.  
o0o  
Dara stormed into the room and slammed the translated test onto the table. "He's trying to get Earths address!"

Ronon smirked to Rodney, who handed over his granola bar. "Told you."

Todd turned to Dara and picked up the translation. "You can't blame a Wraith for trying."

"Sure he hasn't met Kimbo?" Evan asked, and then spotted Dara. "erley?"

Rodney grabbed the sheaves of paper from her loose hands and flickered between them all. "Where did you get this translation?"

"Does it matter?" Dara demanded, turning her head slightly to look at him. "He's throwing our trust in our faces! Again!"

"Actually it does matter." John stepped closer to her. "If you know of a program that can translate Wraith to English, share with the class."

"It's Kimberley." Dara watched his face cloud over with anger and winced internally. "It's her program I mean."

"How could she come up with something as sophisticated at this?" Rodney waved the translations around.

Dara shrugged and watched the acceptance out weigh the suspicion and anger that was in his face. "Don't ask me. Its the same one that she was making for English to American but gave up on. She must have used that as a base."

Everyone looked as though they didn't completely buy her explanation but nodded none the less.

"Does that mean she can work on the other file?" Rodney asked. "Better yet just get her to send the program to my desktop."

"Uh, that won't work." Dara thought fast, lying expertly. "The program works on her old laptop, and I don't think she will share that puppy with you, hell I don't think she'd share that even with Carson."

Carson entered the room and looked up. "Yes?"

"Not now Beckett." Dara nodded to him, and turned to Todd. "Now are you going to detain him or what?"

"I managed to read the other file." Todd began. "It was a document."

Alarm bells starting ringing in Daras ears. "Are we really going to listen and trust this guy?"

"Can you really trust this girl's translation?" Todd sneered. "I have not met this girl, but from your descriptions she appears to be an incompetent fool who continually gives the wrong information to the right people."

"Perhaps it would be best if we stopped working with all Wraith." Woolsey stated as he weighed up the options. "It is clear that they are not to be trusted."

"The same can be said about the human race." Todd sneered.

Kimberley, who had been following Dara up until the transporter usage, slowly poked her head around the door and listened in.

"What does the second file say?" John asked.

"It is a diary." Todd explained.

"A diary?" John cocked an eyebrow.

At once, everyone turned to Kimberley, who was standing under the doorframe.

"Hen?" Carson asked, stepping closed to place his hand on her shoulder.

Her lower lip was chewed and she sighed, closing her eyes in annoyance. "I thought it would work better than having a paper copy."

"Why do you need a diary?" John pulled a face. "That's for children!"

"Also most sociopath serial killers had diaries." Kimberley snapped at him.

Carsons hand twitched.

Kimberley bit onto her lip. "Look, I keep a diary, fine, but he was trying to steal Earths gate address again!"

"Since when can you read Wraith?" John looked confused. "And WRITE it?"

"The same time she learned to do the same with Ancient." Carson summarized. "Wit did ye no tell us fur?"

"Cuz yer aw gonne shout at me, an no gee him intay trouble!" Kimberley raised her voice and pointed to Todd, who was quietly typing away.

"Can you two please speak in English!" Rodney snapped.

There was a silence as the two rewired their voice box, and Dara cleared her throat. "So what happens now?"

"I have completed my work." Todd informed then. "And I have kept my side of the bargain. If you will allow my self and my crew to leave, will shall not return."

"Too much to hope fur." Kimberley muttered to herself.

"Fine, they can leave, and we can have words with Boyce." John glared at Kimberley, who eeped and hid behind Carson.

Carson chuckled to himself as she clutched his shirt and moved to turn and face her.

"Don't move!" Kimberley pleaded.

"I only want to see you one more time before they kill you." He leant back to whisper to her, wincing as she slapped his shoulder blade, then tried to drag him backwards and out the door.

Everyone watched them go and John shook his head silently. The girl was a huge pain in the ass, but she was good for entertainment.


	47. The Date

Dara continued down the hall, trying to get away from the Bug Person that Michael created. After some running, she came to the one thing that could stop her, a dead end. Turning, she puts the hand gun towards the Bug Person. She could almost hear John yelling, "Hold on, Dara!"

The Bug Person managed to pin her against the wall. With all her strength, she managed to get the hand gun into it's mouth, flinching at trying to avoid the mandibles. Thinking this was the only coarse of action, she squeezes the trigger.

oOoBreakoOo

John stood there, covered in the Bug Person's goo. Stunned at what just happened, he watched as Dara pushed the Bug Person's body off her and sweeps some imaginary dust off of her uniform. "Don't bother, John. I've got it." As she walks by, she pats John on the shoulder, only to make a face at the goo now on her hand. "Nasty!" Without warning, she rubs the goo on the back of John's uniform. "Here. That's yours."

oOoBreakoOo

As John stood in the shower, he tried his hardest to scrub the goo out of his hair. After giving up for a minute or two, he decides to just let the water run over him. Trying to just enjoy the heat, his mind began to wander. Slowly he came to realize, that Dara and him never really did an actual date. Sure, they had their moments, but no actual date.

John gets out of the shower and turns off the water. He mind slowly going over ideas on possible date scenarios that he could do. As quickly as each one came up, he shoots them down. Just as he was getting his pants on, an idea strikes him, causing him to smile.

oOoBreakoOo

"So, how about a date?"

"Huh?" Dara questions as she looks up from her lunch and her pink three ring binder.

John sat across from Dara and gives her smirk as he starts to grab his silverware. "I was asking about a date."

"Why?"

"Well, I thought we could have a nice break from everything."

"Why?"

Sighing, John runs his free hand through his hair. "To get away from all the drama and what not, that's why."

Dara rolls her eyes and shoves a spoonful of applesauce in her mouth. "Whatever," she says as she goes back to writing her binder.

"That really wasn't what I was expecting."

Dara glances up and over at John. "Do you want me to act more excited? You of all people knows that is a stretch for me."

"Yes, I know. I was hoping that you would like to have a date, that's all."

"Why, we're always going out and what not."

"No, that's different. We've never actually been on an actual date. I figured we could have one."

"Whatever," Dara replied as she went back to her three ring binder.

John knew she was probably excited, she just wasn't showing it. Just like she always seemed to do. Smiling he takes a bit of his food. "Good. I'll get back to you on what day we'll have it."

oOoBreakoOo

Dara rolled over and groaned. Trying to bury her head in her pillows and covering it with her covers, she tries to ignore the chiming at her door. After a minute or two of the noise it finally got quiet. Thinking that the person finally got the hint, she rolled over and began to fall back asleep. The next thing she knows, someone was poking her in the head. She finally turned her head enough to open a eye towards the person.

John stood there smiling at her. "Morning!" Dara groans again and rolls over. "Hey, now. None of that," John says as he rips the covers off and picks her up.

"Hey!" Dara exclaimed as she began to kick her feet.

"Don't do that or I'm going to do this," John says as he drops her on the bed.

Dara's mind begins to work faster. Mostly it was how many ways she could hurt him and still be able to get back to bed. "What the hell, Sheppard!"

"Good. Now that you are awake, you should get around."

Dara crosses her arms and glares at him. "What for?"

With a smirk, he says, "We have somewhere we have to be."

Laying back down and rolling over, she mumbles out, "I didn't see anything on the Mission Schedule."

"That's because this isn't a mission."

"Then what is it?" Dara managed to ask through a yawn.

"You have to get up to find out."

"Meh," Dara replied as she curled up.

John sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He had forgotten that one flaw. Dara preferred her sleep more than anything. He now had two options. One was to let her sleep and be very late for all the plans he made. The other one was to wake her up rudely and try to live through it. Figuring Rudely was the best bet, he decided to at least mellow it a little. Going into the bathroom, he turns on the shower and finds a nice warm to hot temperature. Going back into the room, he looks at her now sleeping form. He knew he had seconds to make this work.

Scooping her up, he quickly runs her into the bathroom and quickly deposits her in the shower, pyjamas and all. With that, he took off running. He didn't even want to stay see if that worked, because if it did, he knew there would be hell to pay.

oOoBreakoOo

Dara stalked through the halls of Atlantis. Most people knew that day to stay out of her way, especially after they heard how John had woken her up. Kimberley on the other hand, paid no mind to Dara's attitude. Carrying two large suit cases, she walks right up to Dara. "Heya!"

Being confused on Kimberley's attitude and the fact she was carrying two large suit cases, Dara's attitude seemed to a 180. "Hello?"

"What are you doing?" Kimberley asked with a smile, as she puts the bags down.

"Trying to find John. What is with the bags?"

"Good!" Kimberley picks up the bags and tries to hold them towards Dara. "These are your's."

Dara gives her a funny look and easily takes the bags from her. "Okay..."

"Come on, let's go find John."

Now, confused as ever, Dara nods at Kimberley. "If you say so."

When they entered the Gate room, they see John standing near the Stargate with a couple of large suit cases himself. Now being confused more than ever, Dara's eyebrows seemed to scrunch down.

John sees the two of them coming up. Smiling, he says, "Hey, thanks for doing this for me."

Kimberley stops and smiles. "Not a problem. Just remember you owe me."

"I'm looking forward to it," John mumbles out as she walked away.

"What is going on?" Dara asked as she looked around in confusion.

John looks back at Dara and smiles. "Our date."

Dara just blinks at him, before she says, "I'm so confused."

"Don't." Looking up at the control room, he yells up, "Okay, you can dial the Gate now." Once the Gate was dialled up and the event horizon sat there, Dara stared at John with a confused look. Giving her a smile he nods towards her. "Come on." Stepping through the Gate, he disappears.

Dara stops just short of the Gate and still seems to give a confused look. Kimberley stops next to her. "I hope you don't mind on what I packed for you. I know John told me a few things, but I figured I should add more stuff. Anyways," Kimberley says as she puts her hand on Dara's back. "Have fun!" Then without any warning, she shoves Dara through the event horizon.

oOoBreakoOo

"I'm going to kill her!" Dara exclaimed as she paced the room.

"Calm down."

"I'm going to kill her!"

"Calm down," John says again, with a smirk.

Dara stops long enough to pull her hair back a little in frustration. Going back to pacing she stares at John. "Earth?"

"Yeah."

"You brought me to your Earth?"

"You need to calm down."

"I AM CALM!" Dara pretty much yelled.

John smiles and shakes his head. "I don't think the people monitoring us will think so."

Dara finally stops her pacing and simply asks, "Why?"

"Because your screaming and pacing. That's why."

Dara rolls her eyes and lets her head fall back for a moment. "Not that!"

"What then?"

"Why did you bring me to your Earth?"

"Look," John says as he stands up. Crossing the room, he puts his hands on her shoulders. He wanted to make sure that he had her whole attention. "For about the last month you've been stressed. Beyond stressed. You're not getting much sleep and you're getting a little forgetful."

"Yeah, but you could have-"

"Ordered you back home for a certain amount of time," John interrupts her. "Yeah, that was a thought. Lucky for me, Kimberley over heard me on that idea. She told me that it's the busy season where you work. She also told me that you tell them at your work when your off so you can get a couple of hours of work. So, I'm trying to give you some stress free time. A mini vacation, if you will."

"A mini vacation?"

"Yeah. Nothing more."

Dara rolls her eyes and sighs. "Okay. Fine."

Raising one of his eyebrows, he questions, "Is that it?"

Walking away from him, she goes and sits in a chair. "Yeah. For now. I just don't feel like arguing."

"That's nice to know."

At that time the door opens up and Dr. Lam enters into the room. "Okay, you two. You may go now."

"Finally!" Dara exclaimed as she stands up.

"Thanks, Doc," John says.

oOoBreakoOo

Dara grabs her bags and looks at the house. "Why are we here?"

"Because this is a part of the date to get away from all the drama," Joh replied.

"Yes, I know that," Dara said as she rolled her eyes. "I meant, why are we here at this house. This must have cost you a good chunk of your pay to rent it. Just even over night."

John just bites his tongue, wondering how much she really knew. Trying to distract her, he picks up his bags and says, "Come on."

Looking at him, she just shrugs. Quickly she follows after him. She watched as he grabs a key out from under the pot. As they entered the house, she watched as he went over to the security pad and punched in a number. He seemed tense for a second, then the pad gave the all clear. "Worried there?" Dara asked.

"Not at all," John replied with a smirk.

"So, do I have to learn the code or anything?"

"Nah," John says as he picks up his bags again. "Either one of us will be here, so we don't have to turn it on or both of us won't be here and I can do it then."

Dara just shrugs her shoulders. "Okay. Now where do I put my bags?"

John glances around for a second and then says, "Just leaves them there. I'll take care of them. If you could do me a favour?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you go in the kitchen and check the supplies. I know we're going to make a supply run, but I don't want to buy stuff we don't need."

Dara gives him a smile and nods. "Sure."

John watched as she made her way to the kitchen. Once he was sure she was out of sight, he quickly did a quick sweep of the house. When he was sure there was no evidence, he quickly makes his way back to the entry way. He stops suddenly when he enters there, seeing Dara standing there. He wasn't expecting her to come back as fast from the kitchen. Putting a smile on his face, he asks, "How are the supplies in the kitchen?"

"Low," Dara said. "Just a few can goods." Tilting her head to the side, she indicates to the two large items next to her. "Bags?"

"Right!" John goes over and grabs his bags. He begins to walk towards the stairs, when he turns around and notices Dara picking up her. "Put them down. I told you, I'll take care of them."

"But-"

"No, Buts!"

Dara does her eye roll and puts her bags down. "Fine!"

Quickly he runs up the stairs and deposits his bags in the room. Without any second thoughts he goes down the stairs and snags Dara's bags. "You know, you can follow me and see the room."

"Okay."

As he made his way up the stairs, he would sometimes glance back to see if Dara was looking around. He was more surprised by the fact she kept staring straight ahead more often than anything. When they finally entered the room, John carefully puts her bags down and smiles towards her. "Alright, this is where we will be sleeping."

Dara stares in amazement and gets a long look at the room. It was large, full view windows, and a bed so big that it was past king size. "Okay, this is amazing."

John gives of a smirk. "Thought you would like it." She doesn't even look at him as she nods her head. "Come on. We have to make a supply run."

That seems to grab Dara's attention as she looks at him. "What now?"

With a smirk, John asks, "Do you have other plans?"

Dara stares him down, with her eyebrows raised. "No. I just don't like make a lot of trips at once. That's all."

"Well, come on. We should get going."

"Wait a second!" Dara exclaimed. Quickly she drops to the ground and opens up her suitcase. "Yes!" She grabs the first thing on top and hold it up. "Okay, I won't kill Kimberley that badly."

"What?" John asks.

Holding up her cell phone, Dara gives off a smile. "Kimberley packed my phone." Turning it on and waiting for it to boot. Once it it was through the boot up, Dara stands up and says, "Yes!"

"What now?" John asks as he starts to lead her out of the room.

"My phone actually works her. Granted it says it's roaming, but it works none the less."

"That is totally weird."

"You're telling me. Anyways!" Dara looks at John as he stops her at the door. "Where are we going?"

"To the nearest store. That's all."

"Oh," Dara nods and starts to step out. Just as John was about to follow after her, she turns around and hands him her phone. "Here, hold this please."

"Why?"

"I think I should use the bathroom before we go. I don't know how long of a trip this is going to be."

"Won't be long."

Dara shoots her eyebrow at him and says, "You say that now." Standing there she stares at him.

"What?"

"Bathroom."

"Oh! Down the hall and second door on the right."

"Thanks." With that she took off.

John stood there, starring at her phone, when an idea struck him. He pulls up the search page and begins to type in some words. Once he was finished, he hits the enter button. Seconds later, the search page yields him the results that he was looking for. Just as quick as he got on the search results, he got off of them.

Dara comes walking back about that time. "That was one amazing bathroom! It had two sinks and one HUGE tub!"

"The tubs are kind of big in Atlantis."

"Yeah, but that's Atlantis. This is Earth." John just raises his eyebrow at her. "Don't ask."

"Here." He hands her phone back to her. "We better get going."

"Thanks," Dara says as she looks at her phone. She slips it in her pocket and watches as John puts the code in, then closes and locks the door.

Soon they were in the car and making their way to their destination. After what felt like a long trip for Dara, they finally pulled into John's destination. She turns to look at him and raises an eye brow towards him. "I thought we were going to get supplies. Not go to a movie."

"Well," John starts, "I figured movie and dinner. Then pick up the supplies. We did just do some travelling. Are we going to really to take the time to make dinner and eat it."

"Point taken."

As they got out of the vehicle, John looks over it and asks, "So, what do you want to see?"

"What?" Dara asks as she gives him the cheesiest surprise look she could muster. "You didn't plan that out?"

"Ha, ha. No."

Looking over at the windows, she sees a sign. "How about Thor?" John smirks towards her. "What?"

"You're such a geek."

"So are you!"

"Yes, but that's a well kept secret."

"Ditto!" Dara said in reply.

"Come on. Movie could be starting already."

"CRAP! I don't want to miss the previews!" Dara exclaimed as she trotted towards the doors.

"Hold up, I'm paying for it," John says as he trotted after her.

"Damn straight! You owe me for dragging me all the way here."

oOoBreakoOo

Dara rolled over on to her back. Glancing over she looks at the clock on the night stand, then outside the large windows to see the sun streaming in. Groaning, she curls up and pulls the large squishy comforter up. After a few minutes, she begins to smell bacon. She tried to ignore it, but it kept getting to her. Finally after minutes of her stomach growling at her, she finally had to get up and investigate the smell.

Dara slides out of the bed and looks around. Finally finding a pair of slippers, she heads down the stairs and into the kitchen. John looks up from the pan he was frying with and smiles. "Morning, sleepy head. I have breakfast ready." She gives off a growling grunt like noise and sits down on the stool next to the island counter. Without another word she reaches over, grabs an ready cooked piece of bacon, and begins to munch on it. "Oh!" John quickly goes over to the fridge, pulls out her favourite can of soda. Opening it, he sets it in front of her. "Here you go."

After finishing her bacon, she grabs the can and chugs it down. She finally comes up for some air and looks at him. "Thanks," she says.

John smirks as he goes back to the bacon. "Not a problem."

Dara grabs another piece of bacon and chews on it thoughtfully. "Why are you doing this?"

"What?" he asked as she looked at her.

"Why are you doing this? Not just breakfast, but everything."

"I told you. It's to get way from the drama. You've stressed yourself out too far."

"Yes, but you could have easily sent me home and ordered me not to work or even came here and stayed at some crappy hotel or something. Not all this," Dara said with a look on her face as she indicated around her.

"I really think you need it," John says. Dara just stares him down. "What?"

"You're hiding something. I know you are."

"I'm not hiding anything, trust me," John says with a smile.

"That's what you say when you are hiding something."

"I'm not hi-" John stops in mid-sentence and looks up.

"What?"

"I hear a car door."

"So."

"Stay here," John says as he turns off the burner, puts down the spatula, and goes to leave the kitchen. He makes his way to the entry way and stops suddenly when sees his bother standing in there. "What are you doing here, Dave?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Dave responds.

"It's none of you business."

"I think it is my business, when you want nothing to do with dad and me, then you show up suddenly. Using one of Dad's houses, I might add."

"If you want to know, you're going to have to ask my superior."

"I can't do that John!"

"Why? To lazy?" John questions with a smirk. He had known that he found a weak spot. His smirk disappeared when Dave's face got this look on it.

Dave looks up at him and narrows his eyes. "You're doing this for a girl!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that, John! You've pulled this trick before. You did it to impress a girl. Where is she?"

"Dave. There is no girl."

"We'll see about that!" Dave shoves his way past John and goes towards the kitchen. John made a grab at him and missed.

When they entered the kitchen, there sat Dara on the same stool that John left her on, still wearing his shirt. "Yeah. I'm betting, it is about a girl," she casually says as she takes a bite of bacon.

Dave bows his head a little and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I knew that sometimes you are a ladies man, but starting to rob the cradle now."

John opened his mouth to say something, but nothing could come out. Lucky for him, Dara spoke up. "It takes two to tango."

"What are you, like 19 or something?" Dave asks.

"No," Dara says before she takes a sip from her soda. "Add about eight more years and you have it. Though, 19 is the popular guess age for me."

Dave turns towards John and sighs. "You had a one night stand and you had to do all this to impress her. She's not even smart enough to hide when I came looking for her!"

John sucked in his breath at that statement. He knew from experience, that if you didn't know Dara that well and made a comment like that, it wouldn't end well for you. He was amazed when a smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, I could have hidden, but what would the fun be in that. Sometimes I like to see John squirm."

"John, I hate to say it, but your taste in woman is bad. Now, don't get me wrong. Nancy was probably the only one good thing you've done, but you didn't do much on trying to save that marriage."

John clenched his teeth together and was resisting the urge to slug his brother in the jaw, when a calm click of a soda can was set down on the island. Looking over at Dara, he knew something was up then. She had a smile on her face that almost looked nice, but he had seen that fake smile before. It was her "show" smile. "You know. I tried being nice. You were John's brother and all. I should really listen to my gut feeling about stuff, like mom. She knew when she would like someone or not. I guess I'm crazy for trying to give people the benefit of the doubt. John, if you need me I'll be upstairs." With that, she got up and headed up the stairs.

John turned on his brother. He was debating if slugging him in the jaw as a really good idea. "What do you want, Dave? If you want us to leave, we'll leave. So, whatever you want, you better get to the point!"

"John. Why do you even have to ask me that?"

"Why?" John got really close to Dave, as if to prove a point. "You come here, demanding to know why I'm here. That I can get. It was the fact that you insulted my girlfriend that gets me! You're lucky I don't punch your lights out. Hell, you're lucky she didn't do it."

Dave steps back, actually surprised that John was standing up like he was. "Look, you don't have to leave. I only came here to see if you would talk to Dad."

"Now, why would I do that? If he sent you and this is what you do, why would I want to talk to him?"

"John, please listen!"

"No! Just get out! You hear me! Don't worry about coming back. We won't be here!"

Not knowing what to do or say, Dave just turns and walks out the door. After a few minutes, John finally calms down enough to realized that his fist was clenched so tight that he was about strained a muscle. Finally, Dara's voice breaks his thoughts. "John, are you all right?"

Sighing and trying to relaxing his body a little, he nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on. We have to pack."

"Why?" Dara asked as she looked at him.

"Just in case he does come back. I don't want to be here when he does."

"Hey!" Dara exclaims, getting his attention. She goes up to him and hugs him around the waist. "I did like how you stood up to him. Calling me your girlfriend and all."

John raises an eyebrow up in surprise. "You heard that?"

"Of coarse. I may have been out of sight, but I was listening in. I'm a nosey little person."

"What am I going to do with you?" John asks with a smile as he wraps his arms around her waist.

"I don't know," she smiles back. "Can I ask one thing?"

"Was that it?" he questions, noting the serious look on her face.

"No," she replies as she shakes her head. "I wanted to ask, if we can stay at least one more night. We just got here last night. I really don't feel like going anywhere to soon."

John tilts his head back in disbelief that she would ask that. "I would rather leave as soon as possible."

Dara makes a sad pouty face towards him. "Please?"

John could help but to smile and says, "Okay. Just one more night. We pack tonight, so that way we can leave first thing when we get up."

Dara gives off a big smile. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, just before she leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

oOoBreakoOo

As Dara finished brushing her teeth the next morning, she could hear John finish talking on the phone. Packing up her tooth brush, she makes her way over towards John. She watched as he put the phone back down on the cradle. "What's going on?"

"It seems I can't book any hotel close enough."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I don't know yet. I do have a few more options, but I have to leave in order to check them out." Noticing the face that Dara made at that choice, he says, "Don't worry. You can stay here. I go check them out really quick, then come back for you."

Giving off a big smile, she says, "Thanks, John."

"Not a problem." Turning towards the door, he says, "I'll be back soon. Hopefully. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to leave when I get back. Double check to make sure you're all packed."

Smiling towards him, she nods. "Yes, sir." She watched as he walked out the door and got into the car. Shaking her head, she goes back up stairs and does a sweep of the room. Just as she was half crawling under the bed to see if anything managed to make it's way under there, she heard a car door slam shut outside. Pulling herself out from under the bed, she mutters, "He's back sooner than expected." Getting up and moving over to the window, she noticed an older gentleman moving towards the door. "I wondered when he would show up," Dara commented. Dara raced down the stairs and opened the door before the man could even knock on it. "Mr. Sheppard. It's nice to meet you."

He gives her a funny look, but still takes her out stretched hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you. I didn't quite catch your name."

"Of coarse you didn't. Silly me hasn't given it to you yet and when Dave was here, he didn't pick up on it. It's Dara Baldwin."

"Patrick Sheppard. You probably know that already."

Dara nods towards him in response. "Yeah, but I still like people to introduce themselves."

"That is a nice trait to have." He indicates over to the chairs in the living room, before he heads over towards them, with Dara in tow. When they both were sitting down, he looks over at her and asks, "So, you're the girl that my son is seeing?"

Dara nods and nervously scratches the back of her head. "Yeah. Though, I don't see why he would want too."

"I guess I had to see it for myself. Dave told me about what happened yesterday."

Dara sighs and stares straight at him. "I'm going to get to the point. Why are you here?"

Dara watched as he ran his hand through his hair. That one action reminded her so much of John. "Dave insisted I come and talk with him."

"I'll agree with that. You two need to talk."

Patrick raises an eyebrow towards Dara. "I'm surprised that you would agree with him." His face gets stone cold there and stares at her. He was surprised that she didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable by it. "I'm only going to be here for a few more minutes. Just long enough to tell Dave that I showed up here. That is all."

Dara rolls her eyes and gives off a big sigh. "It figures. I should have guessed something like that. John had to get his stubbornness from somewhere." Dara stands up and stares him down. He was surprised by the fact that for once in a long time, someone made him uncomfortable. "It was nice to meet your, Mr. Sheppard. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll see you again." She moves towards the doorway, to leave the room and get her bags around, and stops long enough to stare at Patrick a little more. "Do something for me though. Eat healthy and listen to your doctor about your heart. You remind me of my dad about being stubborn. I was lucky that he was young enough to survive a heart attack. John, might not be so lucky." She stood there for a second or two, to let the silence hang there over them. She then turned and headed back up the stairs.

oOoBreakoOo

Dara sat on the couch, waiting patently. She was so tired of waiting, that her foot kept tapping one of her bags that sat next to it. Finally, after a while, she hears a car door slamming close out in the drive way. Getting up, she goes and looks out the window. There was John moving towards the door. She could tell by the look on his face that whatever he went to do, didn't work out.

John stumbles through the door, swearing. Dara moves away from the window and goes over to his side. "I take it that your plan fell through."

"How did you guess?" John growls out towards her.

She narrows her eyes dangerously towards him. "Don't you take that tone of voice with me."

John sighs and his expression softens a lot. "Sorry. Nothing is going how I expected."

Trying to make him feel a little better she hugs him and smiles up at him. "Sometimes, that's life. We just have to work with what we have."

John couldn't help but to smile back. "The question is, now what do we do?"

Dara pulls away and gets a thoughtful look. "I do have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Give me a few minutes."

John watched as she ran into the kitchen and wondered how she could have a few tricks. Especially, here on his Earth. After a few minutes, he began to hear her talk.

"You know, I don't like you currently but I do agree with you on one subject. So, to make this easier, give me an address." He heard her writing something down really quick. "Yeah, I figured you had something to do with that. Guess what though. You owe me! Trust me when I say I do have other options."

A few minutes later, he hears the phone click and she comes out of the kitchen. She didn't even look up as she was putting something into her phone. "Well?"

Looking up, she blinks at him. "Yeah, I think I've got it worked out. I need the keys though."

"You don't exist on this Earth, so you can't really drive."

"Come on. It just makes it easier. I promise I won't do something that will get me pulled over and what not."

Sighing, John pulls the keys out of his pocket and hands to Dara. "Please don't kill us. That's all I ask."

"Since when did I ever give you that impression?"

oOoBreakoOo

"Hell no!" John exclaimed as he stares out the wind shield, looking at the front of the house. "I'm not going in there."

"Fine, then." Dara shrugs her shoulders towards him. "Don't. You can sit out here in the car. I'm going in, either way." Dara gets out and quickly grabs the keys. Slowly she heads towards the door. When she was about half way there, she stops, turns, and shakes the keys towards John. Turning back, she heads towards the door again.

Curing under his breath, he quickly gets out of the car and ran towards her. By the time he caught up to her, she had already made it to the door and was pushing the door bell. "Give me the keys!"

"No."

He makes a grab for them, but she moves them out of his reach. "Give me the damn keys!"

"No!"

He kept making many attempts at grabbing the keys, but Dara keeps them away from. Then without warning, the door opens up. "John?"

John stops trying to grab the keys and looks up to see his father standing there. "Dad?"

Behind Patrick, Dave shows up and says, "I see you made it."

"Yeah, wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Dara replied.

"Let's get out of here," John growls out as he turns around and starts to head back to the car.

Dara holds the keys out and hits a button on the remote, causing the car to lock up. "Sheppard! You get back here and talk with your father."

John comes storming back towards her and points to his father as he says, "I have nothing to say to him!"

"He does and you will sit and listen."

"I don't have to if I don't want too!"

Sighing in annoyance, she turns and smiles towards the other two Sheppards she didn't know as well. "Give me a minute, will you." Not even waiting for them to reply, she grabs John's elbow and hauls him out of ear shot of the other two. "You should really talk to him when you have the chance."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"It means, that the timeline isn't lining up again and you're lucky for it so far. In the series, he'll die."

"What? How? When?"

"So, now I have your less angry attention. He dies of a heart attack. When? I don't know. Mostly because of the fact that when he does in the series, Col. Carter was in charge. I tried being cryptic with my warning him, but if he is half as stubborn as you, he won't do anything. Just talk with him. He did regret that fight you two had." She looks up and gives him a weak smile. "At least I know where you get your stubbornness from though."

John stood there for a moment, starring at her. Slowly turning, he looks at his dad. He could see what she was finally doing this for him. He walks towards his father, with Dara in tow, and stops in front of him. "Hi, dad."

Patrick gives off a sad smile and says, "Hello, John." He indicates in the house for John. "Why don't you come in."

"Thanks." Glancing back at Dara who nods towards him. "I think I will."

As he walks into the house, his dad nods towards Dara's direction. "You know, I kind of like her. She's a little Spitfire!"


	48. Brother Ronon and the Copycat

"So when is Dara and John back?" Carson asked Kimberley, who paused in her translation to grab her notebook.

"Middle of next week, if all goes according to plan." Kimberley replied, and then looked at him oddly. "Why?"

Carson blushed. "Well, ah was hoping to ask Mister Woolsey fur permission to take you aff world afore they come back."

"Why?" Kimberley raised her eyebrows.

Carson just smiled. "I just figured you'd like to go for a wee picnic and relax."

"You figured right." Kimberley grinned to him and leaned over the table to peck him on the cheek. "Now bugger aff, if were going any where next week I need to get this translation to mister moany pants."

"Do you want me to have a word with Rodney?" Carson offered.

Kimberley shook her head before she began pouring over her notes once more. "Don't you have a visit to new Athos soon?"

"Aye, but I think they'll understand if I'm a were bit late." Carson grinned.

Kimberley shook her head. "You are not putting aff yer wurk tae hing wae me. Move it mister, children to give cavities, people to save yadda, yadda."

Carson grinned once more and pulled her in for a quick kiss before disappearing.

Kimberley smiled to herself, and then groaned as Rodney spoke to her on her earpiece. "I told you to give me an hour McKay- no that was ten minutes ago!"  
o0o  
Carson paused as he walked past the kitchens, doubling back as he saw Rotella shouting at Davey and John. "Uh, Chef, can I have a word?"

"You can even have two words." Scott nodded to him, levelling Davey with one more glare before the assistants scurried off to do his work. "What's up?"

Carson smiled innocently at him. "Am going aff world tomorrow with Kimberley and-"

"Say no more Doctor Beckett, nothing she's made this past month has been passed, so she won't have any home made things for you to erm, try." Scott nodded.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you to fill this." Carson held out a picnic basket. "For us for tomorrow?"

Scott tilted his head to the side. "Now if I did this for your Doctor, I'd have to do it for everyone that asks."

"I know." Carson nodded and nodded to the basket. "However, I think if you look inside you will see how little space there is for things we need."

Scott looked at him oddly, and then opened it up, worry filling his eyes at the sight of his medical file sitting at the top.

"I see you are a bit behind in getting your shots." Carson replied simply, glancing around the kitchen before looking at the chef. "But if I'm not going off world because I couldn't get something nice fur my girlfriend and I, then I guess I can see you tomorrow at 0900?"

"Actually, you know what?" Scott smiled and stifled a nervous giggle, taking out the medical file and passing it to the medical doctor. "I think I can fill this out without any problems, I mean, I wouldn't want Kimberley to make anything and get you killed."

Carson nodded once to him and turned on his heel.

Scott let loose a sigh of relief and scurried to his office to hide for the rest of the day.  
o0o  
Teyla nodded to Amelia as she passed her in the hallway. "Amelia, how are you?"

"I'm good, yourself?" Amelia asked, jogging on the spot as they spoke.

"I am well. However, I was wondering if you have seen Kimberley in your travels?" Teyla enquired, glancing around the hallway in case the topic of their discussion was going to walk past.

Amelia shook her head. "Haven't seen her since she realized something and nearly had a heart attack this morning."

"Something?" Teyla asked.

Holding back a laugh Amelia smiled. "I think it has something to do with Doctor Beckett."

"Thank you Amelia, I think I know where to find her now." Teyla inclined her head in thanks and began walking towards the nearest transporter, pausing only to recall where the girls old quarters were.  
o0o  
Kimberley looked up from her desk as the doorbell went. Chewing her lip she left the room and out to the living room, pausing for a second before opening the door and grinning at Teyla. "Dude you are psychic!"

Teyla shook her head continued to step inside. "However, I do know you very well."

"Huh?" Kimberley oh-so-eloquently replied.

"What has gotten you so worked up?" Teyla asked, walking towards Kimberley's old bedroom. "You forgot to meet me for our female night."

"Blitsnack!" Kimberley slapped her head with her hand and grimaced to her friend. "I'm sorry Teyla, it's just, Carson and I, we're, I mean uh..."

"Yes?" Teyla smiled and hoped it wasn't off putting.

Kimberley took a breath and squealed.

"Excuse me?" Teyla asked. 'Was that in Wraith?'

"Sorry." Kimberley blushed and looked to her toes. "Carson asked me on a date!"

"Oh, oh!" The older one began smiling. "This is wonderful news- is it not?"

"Oh, no, it's awesome!" Kimberley grinned and grabbed Teylas arm before dragging her deeper into her room. "But I have no idea what to wear!"

Teyla glanced around the room, and then paused. Slowly she looked around again and fought to squash the maternal instinct to start cleaning the mess that had accumulated. "Where did all this come from?"

Kimberley blushed again. "I've been looking ever since Carson asked me an hour ago."

She moved over to a large pile of clothes and picked one up from within it. "This is too slutty, and this is too nunny, this is too big, this is too small, this is too green, this is too sparkly."

Teyla nodded as Kimberley dismissed almost every item of clothing that she owned. A strained smile fell upon her face as she looked at her friend. "There must be something that you can wear. Perhaps something at the back of your closet that you have over looked?"

Kimberley raised her eyebrows and swept a foot over the clothes on the floor, clearing a path for Teyla.

Teyla frowned to herself as she walked over to the small closet. She moved some clothes over using the door and put her head in, outwardly frowning at the lack of clothes inside.

She turned to look at her friend and took a step back as most of the clothes were already sorted and in piles in the bed, causing the room to look a lot cleaner.

"Told you I have nothing to wear." Kimberley pouted.

"How did you?" Teyla motioned to the floor, then the bed, and looked at her in shock.

Kimberley just shrugged.

"I am sure Carson would love your outfit, what ever you chose." Teyla encouraged her.

"Did you wear a normal outfit when going out with Kanaan?" Kimberley fell into her defensive stance.

"Of course not I bought a-" Teyla paused, and slowly closed her mouth. "You could visit the mainland, perhaps see if there is anything you could purchase there?"

"I spent all my money last week getting material for Daras Christmas present." Kimberley muttered in embarrassment.

"Is Christmas not celebrated in December?" Teyla asked, glancing at the calendar that said June on it.

"I like to get an early start on Christmas okay!" Kimberley threw her hands up and flopped onto the bed, closing her eyes in frustration.

"Perhaps I could loan you-"

"No." Kimberley bolted up right. "I do not like borrowing."

Teyla nodded. They sat in silence as both females tried to think of something for the younger one to wear.

"Has Carson ever expressed a like for a particular item of clothing?" Teyla enquired.

Kimberley relaxed and tilted her head to the side. A slow smile appeared on her face. "Thank you Teyla."

Teyla tensed and stood straight. "You are welcome?"

"So you still want to have the girly night?" Kimberley grinned.  
o0o  
Inside the infirmary Carson, Jennifer and Woolsey were deep in discussion.

"Despite what the IOA has advised." Woolsey spoke calmly. "I have seen that in certain situations Doctor Beckett has reacted both more quickly and more calmly then yourself, Doctor Keller. It is with these observations that I am suggesting that Doctor Beckett return to running the Medical Department on Atlantis as the Chief Medical Officer, with certain restrictions in place of course."

"Of course." Carson nodded.

Woolsey waited for a few moments then left.

Carson turned to Jennifer. "Are you alright with this?"

"Yes!" The blonde replied with a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how much I've wanted this!"

"Are you really sure?" Carson wasn't convinced. 'If someone had just told me all the hard I'd been doing for the last few years was for nothing I wouldn't be as happy.'

"I've been trying to get rid of this position since I got it." Jennifer whispered to him. "When I accepted the position after you-after the accident, I thought it was only temporary. I wasn't even thirty and in charge of a complete department, surviving on two hours of sleep a night and it seemed like anyone that could swing a punch was being let through the gate!"

"You didn't like it?" Carson frowned.

"No." Jennifer shook her head. "It was too much responsibility. And there was rifts within the department when I took over, I had only been in Atlantis for a short time before I- erm, before I got the position and Doctor Weir thought that another change in leader would be unwise."

Carson still looked unsure.

"I still have a lot to learn." She smiled at him. "Now I have one of the greatest teachers to work under, and a lot less stress."

"Aye, the stress is a killer." Carson nodded. "But if you want to take charge of anything, like an operation, or restocking perhaps, just let me know."

Jennifer beamed at him. "I might take you up on the operation offer."

"What about the restocking?" He tried to keep the desperation from his voice.

"No way, that's what caused most of the stress!" Jennifer laughed as she shook her head.

"What's causing stress?" Rodney asked as he entered the infirmary.

"Restocking." Jennifer replied and watched Rodney as he moved to stand beside Carson, but then made to walk towards her, but ended up doing a side shuffle and stood beside them.

Carson rolled his eyes. "I need to fill out some paper work, why don't you two head to the mess hall?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Jennifer smiled to Rodney. "Would you like to accompany me?"

"If there aren't any better offers." Rodney replied was off handed, and then cursed himself. "I-I mean, if-if you have-haven't received any better offers?"

Carson shook his head at his friend stupidity and waved them off, entering his office and pausing at the sight of his Sedetan friend standing with his back to his desk, watching him enter his office. "Er, hullo Ronon, what can I do for you?"

"Close the door." Ronon ordered.

He closed the door.

"Sit down." Ronon growled, bringing out his gun and began twirling it expertly.

Sitting down gingerly, Carson spoke quietly. "What's with all this?"

Ronon threw the gun high into the air without looking and grabbed it from behind his back, twirled it once more then put it into its holder. He took out a knife and grabbed the spare chair, twirling it around so he could straddle it. He balanced the knife on the head of the chair and crossed his arms.

He glared at Carson.

Carson gulped.

"You going out with Kimberley tomorrow?" Ronon asked.

Carson nodded.

"For a picnic?" Ronon wanted clarification.

"Ye-yes." Carson started high-pitched, coughed, and answered normally.

"Kimberley is like a sister to me. And she is still in an emotional state from her last mission." Ronon picked up the knife, and without looking away began to clean his fingernails. "You try anything off world, you hurt her or make her freak out, and I'll be using this to clean out your entrails."

Carson blinked and fought the urge to wipe his forehead. "I take it you've given John this speech?"

Ronon paused in his nail cleaning to grin.  
o0o  
John groaned as he wiped his hand over the lock outside his room, getting Teyla back was great and all, but his body had sores on its sores.

Slowly he trudged into the room and activated the light, blinking at the sight of Ronon chilling on his bed.

John watched Ronon cleaning his nails with his huge hunting knife and slowly edged around him. "Hey buddy, what's up?"

Ronon looked up at him like was a Wraith king with a flesh wound. "You see this knife?"

John nodded.

He withdrew a prune core and sliced it down the middle. "It'll be in you, if you hurt Dara, got it?"

"Got it!" John gulped. Then frowned. "How did you find out about the shovel speech?"

Ronon smirked.  
o0o  
Kimberley handed Ronon the remote and bag of popcorn, twirling around in her chair before resuming her work.

Ronon skipped past the 'Last Time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and bobbed his head to the theme tune. "Keep working on that essay."

"Ugh, yes Dara." Kimberley groaned to him.

"Hey, you invited me here to make sure you worked on those essays." Ronon reminded her, throwing some popcorn into the air and caught it in his mouth.

"I know, I know..." Kimberley trailed off as David Boreanez came onto the screen and sighed. "Ohh! Angel is such a hottie!"

"He's dead, reanimated, and uses way too much hair gel." Ronon looked at her like she was nuts.

"Ugh, you're such a guy!" Kimberley returned, forgetting her homework and stared at the TV screen. "That man was the reason the shovel speech was invented!"

Ronon sat up a bit on her bed. "Shovel speech?"

"Uh hu." Kimberley nodded and blinked as David's face paused mid sentence. She turned to glare at Ronon. "Hey!"

"What's a shovel speech?" Ronon wanted to know.

"I don't know what other people call it, but its like, a guy or girl goes to their sibling or friends prospective partner and says to them, while holding a shovel, something like 'if you hurt them this shovel is going to dig your grave after I kill you with it'." Kimberley replied, and glanced at him. 'I think I might have given him an idea.'  
o0o  
Carson looked at him expectantly. 'Did I loose him?' "Ronon?"

Ronon snapped out of it by blinking and narrowed his eyes at Carson. "We clear?"

"Crystal!" Carson nodded enthusiastically.

Ronon nodded once and stood up, leaving the room without a backwards glance and the door open.

Slowly Carson let out a breath, wiping his hand across his forehead as he slouched down a bit on the table.

"Carson?" "GYAH!"

Carson jumped on the chair in panic, sliding to the ground.

"Honestly Carson, what are you doing the floor?" Rodney rolled his eyes while holding his hand wrapped heavily in gauge. "I'm bleeding a river of blood here and you're chilling on the floor!"

With concern, Carson pushed himself from the floor and brushed his clothes off as he made his way to his friend. Quickly he snapped on a pair of gloves and took the napkins off, blinking and rolling his eyes at Rodney's real wound.

"Rodney, it's a paper cut." Carson looked at him.

Rodney glared in return. "You can die from a paper cut!"

Carson just shook his head. "After I patch you up, where are you headed? And why are you back here?"

Rodney blushed. "I was in the mess hall with Jennifer when I tried to open her sandwiches and I caught my finger on the film cover."

Biting his lip the medicine man tried to keep the laugh from spilling out. Rodney glared at him anyway.  
o0o  
Jennifer played with the sandwich box that Rodney had cut his finger on and sighed to herself.

"Hey Jen, what's wrong?" Kimberley asked as she appeared at her table with a small silver box held in her hands.

"Oh, nothing." Jennifer tried to smile at her, but the smile didn't reach all the way.

Kimberley bit her lip before placing the box onto the table and leaned over to her friend. "I was just on my way to Teylas for a girly night in, want to join us?"

Jennifer considered the offer then shook her head negatively. "Thanks Kimberley, but I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow and should get an early night."

"We'll be in Teylas room if you change your mind." Kimberley smiled to her and stood up, waving her fingers before leaving Jennifer waving sadly.  
o0o  
The next morning Woolsey sipped his second cup of coffee as he exited the transporter nearest the gate room, nodding to Chuck as he passed him on the way to his office, pausing and backtracking as the gate technician motioned for him.

"I just wanted to warn you, sir." Chuck began.

"Of?" Woolsey slowly placed the coffee cup onto the console and looked at him in wonder.

"Doctor Beckett and Kimberley are going off world soon." Chuck whispered.

"Oh dear lord." Woolsey exclaimed, mostly to himself and rushed to lock himself in his office, forgetting all about his coffee in favour of locking all the doors and taking a personal day.  
o0o  
Kimberley smiled to herself in the mirror as the doorbell of her old room went off.

With a bounce in her step, she left her room and grinned to Carson as he stood in the middle of her and Daras old living room holding a picnic basket, wearing his kilt. "Hiya Carson, zomg, are you a true blue?"

Carson blushed but grinned at her. "You want to find out?"

"Ehhheheh." Kimberley giggled and leaned into him, stealing a kiss before looking at the wooden basket. "What's in the basket Yogi?"

"Well Boo-Boo, you'll find out later." Carson grinned at her. "Just remember to thank Scott when you see him."

"Wait, Rotella made us a basket? As in let us take food outside of the mess hall never mind the city?" Kimberley stepped back from Carson a little. "How the hell did you- did you threaten him?"

"Who me? No!" Carson denied hotly.

Kimberley leaned against a wall and looked at him.

Carson grinned. "Maybe a little."

"That's my man." Kimberley shook her head at him and moved to grab her bag, stepping faster to grab it before Carson could get it.

"Allow me." He offered.

"Touch my bag, and Jen'll have ta put ye together again." Kimberley warned.

Carson looked at her oddly before nodding slowly, making a mental note to get her checked out after they came back that afternoon. "Shall we?"  
o0o  
Ronon and Amelia walked together as they headed to the sparring rooms, pausing in the command centre so Amelia could drop off some paper work.

As Amelia placed the paper work outside Woolsey's door, beside the 'DO NOT ENTER' sign, Ronon glanced around the room and grinned at the chalk board set up next to the dialling station. "Who's off world?"

"Kimberley and Doc Beckett." Baxter answered as he swivelled in the chair.

"Who else?" Ronon wanted to know.

"Just those two." Baxter smiled. "Off to a nice, deserted planet, with no indigenous people, lovely weather and no Wraith culling in goodness knows how long."

"Maybe they need protection?" Ronon spoke before he could stop himself.

"I think they have all the protection they'll ever need with them." Mack grinned in response, and then paled at the sight of who he was talking to, quickly running in the opposite direction.

Amelia shook her head as Ronon began to get angry and was beginning to worry about her safety when the transporter doors opened and Carson stepped out, holding onto Kimberleys hands as she walked with her eyes closed.

"How are ye feeling hen?" Carson asked.

Kimberley shook her head. Slowly she opened her eyes. "I still don't like it. And it still doesn't agree with me."

A few in the gate room chuckled at her response. Baxter waved them over.

"Nice skirt Doc." Mack quipped to Carson from behind a pillar.

"It's a kilt!" Carson yelled at him.

"Yeah well, well saying he knows about the food of his grandmother's culture but nothing about the dress." Kimberley rolled her eyes. Then smiled at him. "And I think you look dashing."

"Thank you." He smiled back at her.

"Ugh can you two please go before I loose my breakfast?" Brent pleaded.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and grabbed Carson's hand, mindful not to hit him with her bag. They made their way down the stairs as Chuck entered the gate address that had been preapproved for their trip.

Cason stared at the wormhole as the energy whooshed out and established, eyes transfixed at the complexity of the ancient technology that was about to send him light-years in space.

He glanced at the corner of his eye as Kimberley stepped up to the established wormhole and gently placed her left palm just above the event horizon. He knew with experience she was saying her little prayer for good luck and chuckled to himself. 'Ah hope she never changes.'

Kimberley glanced back at Carson and smiled softly to him. "We ready?"

"Aye." He nodded to her and turned slightly to wave good-bye to everyone before grasping Kimberley hand and together they walked through the stargate.  
o0o  
Rodney woke up from his nap and stretched like a cat. His finger pulsed in pain but he ignored it as he grabbed a fresh pair of clothes.

After a quick shower and shave he sat down on his couch and scanned through his to do list from the night before and glanced at the emails that had came in, deleting the ones from Carson, Kavanaugh and several of the department heads.

An email from Sam Carter caught his attention and he grinned. 'So she needs my help with a translation eh?'

Rodney smirked to himself then finished getting ready, heading to his office, glancing at his watch. 'Boyce should be there by now with some breakfast for me.'

Entering the room, he frowned at the eerie silence that filled it. Turning on the lights, he looked around for Kimberley and frowned when he couldn't see her.

With a huff, he made his way to a transporter and stomped to the girls old living areas.

Rodney paused outside Kimberley and Daras old rooms and thought for a second before ringing the bell. After a few seconds of no answer, he pressed the ball again.

Grumbling under his breath Rodney pulled out a doohickey and attached it to the door, over riding the palm reader and motion sensor to allow himself in.

'Where the hell is she?' Rodney demanded as the silence continued to roll over him. 'Carsons off world so I know she won't be with him - you have got to be kidding me! She goes off world when I need something translated!'  
o0o  
Jennifer smiled to herself as another hour ticked by and there was no one except the observations in the infirmary, and Rodney stomping towards her. 'Huh?'

"Where is he?" Rodney demanded once he reached her.

"He who?" Jennifer asked.

"Carson! That's who he!" He seethed. "He takes the only person that can rapidly translate Ancient off world for a picnic without even consulting me!"

At that, Jennifer raised both eyebrows. "I take it you are talking about Kimberley?"

"Yes!" He snapped, then paused and took a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry Jen, I-, sorry."

"It's alright Rodney." Jennifer smiled at him. "I'm sure what ever work you have can wait till this afternoon."

Rodney mumbled to himself, and then looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. "Oh, er, congratulations on our demotion Jennifer, it's been a long time coming."

Jennifer smiled brightly at him. "From anyone else that would be an insult Rodney, but thank you."

He nodded in return and there was a lull in the conversion. Rodney glanced around the room and spotted two of the guys that usually hung around with Dara and Kimberley sleeping in separate beds, then frowned as he heard silence. "Haven't heard that in a long time."

"What's that?" Jennifer asked, following his line of sight then turned to look at him.

"Silence." Rodney closed his eyes and welcomed the change in noise.

"This place was too quiet before." Jennifer shrugged. "I know there was the normal hustle and bustle of running for our lives every other day, but the girls brought more of a family kind of panic."

"Yes, panic is right." Rodney mumbled to himself, and then realized he had been talking with Jennifer for a few minutes without Atlantis blowing up. 'There must be a correlation between the two events!'

"So...how's Katie?" Jennifer hedged, trying to look nonchalant about it.

"Um, she should be back on Earth about now." Rodney shrugged.

"Wow, that'll be one long distance relationship." She tried to joke.

"Relationship? OH no! We broke up." Rodney was quick to clarify.

"Really?" Jennifer smiled, and then corrected her self. "I mean, oh, really?"

"Yeah." Rodney kept his mouth closed as to the reasons why they broke up, remembering some of the information Jeanie had been spouting off since he told her he had broken up with the red head.

Jennifer glanced at the clock and realized that her shift was almost over. "You know, isn't it funny that John and Dara are on Earth having a date, and Carson and Kimberley are off world having a date. At the same time."

Rodney nodded and made a non-committable noise.

"I'd like to do that, maybe, one day." Jennifer stared dreamily ahead of herself, thinking of the almost romantic scene she could have with mister allergic-to-everything-and-then-some.

"With me?" Rodney almost squeaked.

"Oh, erm, we-well with anyone really." Jennifer replied quickly, thinking that she had upset him. "But we erm, we could, as friends?"

'Friends.' Rodney thought dejectedly, but nodded. "You free this week?"

"Barring any apocalypses." She grinned, and then they looked at each other in horror.

As nothing blew up or no one came running in to the room in horror, they shared a small smile with each other.  
o0o  
Chuck walked up to the door of the office of the leader of the expedition and knocked. He glanced around and by the time he looked back, the door had been opened a tiny crack.

Chuck allowed himself in and nodded to Mister Woolsey. "I have the days report sir."

"Leave it on the table." A voice from underneath the desk called out to him.

Tilting his head slightly Chuck bent down a bit and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Mister Woolsey hiding under the desk.

"They'll be back soon, sir." Chuck found himself saying, before he left with a frown.

Woolsey waited until he heard the door click closed and scrunched his eyes tight, rocking backwards and forwards. 'The voices are too loud, the voices are too loud!'  
o0o  
The gate spun to life and everyone in the gate room turned to look at the event horizon as it stabilized, each hoping that their bet had won.

A slightly brown Carson stepped through the gate, holding Kimberleys bag and the picnic basket, waiting for his companion to exit the gate before be would move.

A slightly red Kimberley came through the gate and grinned at Carson, moving to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks fur a lovely time Carson. And tell Scott his picnic was worth being nabbed by Yogi."

"Will do, once you go see Jen about that sunburn." Carson agreed.

"Sunburn?" Kimberleys brows furrowed. "Where am I sunburnt?"

"Right, there." Carson replied as he kissed her nose and smiled to her.

"WHO HAD A LOBSTER WITH A BEAR ATTACK?"


	49. While The Cats Away

_Woolsey nodded to the leaders of the off world teams, frowning as John entered bang on time. "Thank you all for being so prompt."_

_They nodded to him._

_"Now to begin with, I would like to discuss with you the members on your teams." Woolsey held up a palm to silence the leader's outrage. "I am not talking about moving or replacing any members, but adding personnel to the team."_

_"More people to keep an eye on." Brent commented._

_Woolsey spent second eyeing him before continuing. "I am looking to add two or three people to the duty rota. A male must be added to Doctor Porter's team-"_

_"I was told to pick the best and the brightest, it's not my fault that they are all female." Porter interrupted Woolsey, who glared her down._

_"I will not choose, the choice is up to you, however a male is needed." Woolsey left no room for discussion._

_"I'll take a crack on having someone on our team." Brent voiced._

_"Actually Col. Cole that has been suggested to me as a bad thing." Woolsey shook his head._

_Alarms started ringing in Johns head. "Who've you got in mind to add to the teams?"_

_"I would like to know the groups who would like to volunteer?" Woolsey evaded._

_Brent, Way, Stackhouse and Lorne raised their hands up._

_"I want to put Miss Boyce in a group."_

_Way and Stackhouse slammed their hands onto the knees. Way spoke first. "No way, every time she goes off world with us something bad happens."_

_"She ain't that bad." Brent rolled his eyes to look at Way, who raised an eyebrow._

_"How many times did she go off world with you?"_

_"Three."_

_"And how many times did you get kidnapped?"_

_"Four."_

_John and Evan shot him an amused look before John began speaking. "I would take her, but I already have a full team."_

_Woolsey nodded and looked between Way and Evan._

_"You can have her mate, I like my limbs attached." Way shook his head._

_"It's only a trial, right?" Evan was suddenly worried for his appendages._

_Nodding Woolsey smiled. "Miss Boyce will join you on your team the next time you go off world. Lt. Way, Miss Baldwin will join as you search the lower levels of Atlantis."_

_'Aw man!' Way groaned to him self but nodded._

_"So who's going to let Boyce know she's on a team?" John asked flickering through the file in front of him._

_Woolsey got a gleam in his eyes. "While I would normally leave it to the leader of the team, however as the head of security, it would be best left for you. After all, we wouldn't want anyone stepping on any toes."_

_John looked alarmed._

_"If you want, I could just tell her?" Lorne offered his commanding officer._

_"That's one order I will gladly delegate." John nodded enthusiastically._

_"Quite." Woolsey smirked._  
o0o  
A few weeks later, Woolsey sighed as the trio walked in, once again in trouble.

Evan Lorne, possibly the ringleader, stood slightly a head of the other two, cool as a cucumber.

Mack Gordon's left eye twitched as Kimberley dig her hand into his arm, the only female in the group petrified of the trouble she was in.

Woolsey caught herself from rolling his eyes. 'This girl is too skittish.' ''Have a seat.''

Mack reached behind him and pushed Kimberley towards the only seat, both men flanking her from behind.

Kimberley glared up at them.

''I take it you all know why you are here?'' He asked, folding his hands.

Kimberley bit her lip. 'I wonder if I should say anything about illegal interrogations.'

''No sir." Gordon replied.

''Isn't this about the beah!' Kimberley finished as Evan poked her in the shoulder.

Woolsey raised an eyebrow.

As the three sat in silence, one of them itching to confess all sins he shook his head. ''If you are going to bet, don't send the information off world, especially to earth.''

''But I thought General O'Neill would like to take part.'' Kimberley took the rap.

''Have you ever met the general?'' Woolsey asked, watching Kimberley shake her head. ''Well he wants to meet you. Thinks you are a, and I quote 'hoot.'

''Shoulda been coot.'' Mack grumbled.

Kimberley elbowed him at the knee, and then rubbed her elbow.

The leader of the expedition waited for them to calm down. ''I take it we have an understanding?''

The trio nodded.

''Good and Kimberley, can you wait a moment?''

Evan muttered something and doubled over as Kimberley threw her fist into his gut.

Kimberley looked fearfully at Woolsey as she reached into his desk. 'Is he going to give me my marching orders?'

Woolsey brought out an envelope and passed it to Kimberley, who stared at it.' ''Put the old general down for option one.''  
o0o  
Chuck and Brent watched as Lorne and Mack left the office, and nodded to Mack as he stopped beside them. "So what's happening?"

"Miss Boyce is going to join Major Lorne's team off world today." Mack grinned.

"I'm not Catholic, but I want to cross my self." Brent muttered, "You think they'll get captured?"

"With Miss Boyce, it's a high possibility." Mack replied, and then tuned to Chuck. "What does the board say?"

"Eighty Wraiths, ten sacrifices, five nothing and five for Genii." Chuck read from a spare, hidden data pad.

"Funny how Dara is the only one to have run into the Genii." Brent commented.

Mack nodded. "But it was Landon, does he really count?"

"They met a platoon of Koylas squadron though." Chuck reminded them.

"Hopefully Miss Boyce won't meet any of Koylas men. I'd hate for anything to happen to her." Mack shook his head in sorrowful anticipation.

"Are you kidding me? They'll go running for the hills when they hear she's nearby." Brent grinned.

"If you two are done plotting Kimberleys doom and gloom, and that of my teams, gets back to work." Evan ordered as he creped up behind them, causing the hardened men to jump and yelp.

"Plotting my what and huh?" Kimberley asked, appearing at his side.

"GYAH!" They yelled and took a step away from her.

"So, when we got a mission?" Kimberley asked, glancing between the men.

"In a few hours. I was just on my way to spring you from the clink." Evan joked.

"Th-this afternoon?" Kimberley paled. "Ar-are you sure this is a good idea?"

Evan leveled her with a glare. "Yes. I've put off putting you onto a mission for weeks now. But we're visiting M47-E91, and initial reports show that the females distrust the men, so we're going to use all your internal wit and charm to get information from them."

Three faces looked at him like that was a very bad idea.

'Speaking of bad ideas.' Lieutenant Loeder, Lorne's second in command, nodded to Kimberley as he approached them from behind Lorne. "Boyce, you're to head to the armory and pick up your weapon."

Loeder and Lorne exchanged a look, like they were debating something silently, and Loeder eventually shook his head.

"Are you sure I need a gun?" Kimberley asked hesitantly.

Evan spoke up first. "Ah, after the incident last time-"

"It was self defense." Mack replied instantly.

"She could have taken him out another way." Loeder shot back.

Kimberley scrunched up her eyes and tried to block out the images assaulting her.

_John kicked his gun towards the fire, hoping at the last second Kimberley grabbed it before Arek._

_Alrek and Kimberley spotted it at the same time, looking to each other before Kimberley breathed in sharply, ignoring her ribs, and dove to the ground._

_Her right hand grabbed the pistol and she scrambled to stand up._

_Alrek flung himself on top of her and she fought to bring the gun up to chest height before the ominous sound of the gun going off filling the air._

_"Ooh." Arek groaned, kneeling back and looking at his blood soaked hands covering his abdomen._

_With one last expression of breath, he fell forward, dead._

"Will you guys stop it?" Brent hissed at them and moved to place a hand on Kimberleys shoulder, causing her to eep and jump away from them in fear before her mind cleared and she tried to smile at them. "You alright Kimbo?"

Kimberley nodded. "And don't worry, I can hold a gun."

"Can you promise not to shoot us?" Loeder demanded.

Kimberley looked to the ground again and tensed as she felt someone put their arm around her. She glanced up to see Evan glaring at Loeder. "Unless you're Kolya, a certain sponge or Wraith I know she won't be shooting at you. Myself on the other hand..."

Loeder watched his commanding officer glare at him with a non-verbal threat and nodded to him.

Lorne stopped glaring at Loeder to look at Kimberley and hugged her a little bit tighter as he remembered the first time she took a gun again after the incident.

Kimberley stared at the floor as Dara set up the target. She thought about anything but what the room she was in was used for.

_Dara finished pinning up the pictures of Wraith, Genii and Usher and turned to her friend. "You ready?"_

_"Can I say that this is a bad idea?" Lorne whispered to Baxter, who shook his head._

_"After last weeks incident Kimberley needs to get used to a gun again." He explained._

_"But her wounds-" Lorne tried again._

_"The sooner she gets back on the horse the sooner she will start riding again." Dara pointed out._

_"I still don't like it." Pouted Lorne. 'And if she pulls a stitch, it's my head Doc and Keller with have.'_

_"Me neither." Kimberley mumbled, mostly to herself._

_Dara glanced at her friend, missing the look from Baxter as she tried to pass the gun to her friend._

_Kimberley glanced up at the gun, then to Dara, then looked to the ground._

_"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Dara pointed out._

_"I'd rather not." Kimberley replied, beginning to back away._

_Dara rolled her eyes, grabber her friends hands and placed the gun where it was supposed to go. She motioned with her head for Lorne to stand behind Kimberley, take her hands, and fire the gun._

_Kimberley shook at the gun recoiled and the bullet made its mark on Koylas head, wincing as her arm began to throb._

_"Again." Dara nodded to Lorne, who looked at her, then to Baxter, before bringing Kimberleys arms up again and making it shoot._

_"Again." Dara repeatedly ordered, her voice rising higher and higher until the gun began to 'click' 'click' 'click' empty._

_Slowly Lorne removed his arms from Kimberleys shoulders, separating their hands. He took a step back as Dara advanced towards her friend._

_There was a tense silence as Dara watched Kimberley, who stared at the ground, Baxter watched Dara, and Lorne stared at the red blush that was appearing on Kimberleys left arm. 'Crap.'_

_Slowly Kimberley raised her head and nodded to Dara._

_"Still don't like it?" Dara asked._

_"But I need to take it with me." Kimberley replied, shaking once more before handing the gun back to her friend, glancing at her arm in dismay. "Gotta go meet my drug dealer."_

_As she walked away, Dara placed the gun nozzle on Baxter's chest. "She didn't mean anything by it, got it?"_

_"Got it." Baxter nodded._  
o0o  
After the group left the command center, they headed to the infirmary to get one last check up.

All too soon, the group had been cleared for duty and had gathered outside Carson's office, waiting on Kimberley to exit.

"Now, if you want me to check an' see if yer pregnant..." Carson trailed off as Kimberley got an expectant look on her face.

"Will that stop me going off world?" She asked.

"No, but it means I can get some party preparations started." He chuckled, and then placed an arm around her shoulder, placing his head to hers as she leant into him. "C'mon hen, it won't be that bad, really. And I'll be here to patch you up."

Kimberley shook her head and looked at him. "What if you can't patch me up?"

He raised an eyebrow. "If I can keep Rodney from knowing about the spider in his hair off world, I can keep you in once piece."

"Not to interrupt the love fest doc, but we kind of have a schedule to keep to." Lorne poked his head in with a hand covering his eyes and cracked the fingers open to peek at them.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and pecked Carson on the lips. "See me off?"

The medic nodded and walked with the group from the infirmary to the transporters. Carson hugged Kimberley to him as they entered the transporter and kept her close once they arrived. After a few minutes, she pulled away from him slightly and nodded to him.

Silently they exited the piece of ancient technology and made their way to the gate.

Carson smiled as he watched Kimberley prepare to go through the gate, and grinned to himself as he recalled how she first went through the gate the first time after her last mission.

_Carson smiled at Kimberley as she fixed the sleeve of her top over the bandage. "So, would you like to go to the kid's planet with me?"_

_"Um." Kimberley bit her lip and shook her head after a short time. "I still have a lot of work to do, and I'm supposed to be helping Teyla watch Torren."_

_"And ye cannae get out of it? Or take him with us?" He asked._

_Kimberley shook her head, and then groaned as her phone beeped. "Gotta go Car, meeting with Baxter."_

_Carson pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled to her. "Dinner at the caf tonight?"_

_Kimberley nodded without too much enthusiasm._  
_o0o_  
_"Hey Kimberley!" Brent called as she walked past him and his team, watching her as she handed Torren back to his grateful parents. "The doc dialed; there is a measles epidemic on the planet so he can't make it tonight."_

_Kimberley nodded to him as she rubbed her left arm._

_"You want to come with us?" Brent offered, grinning as his team groaned at the though of the 'fun' they would get into._

_Slowly she shook her head, waving him off with her right hand and a nod as he stared at her in wonder._  
_o0o_  
_Dara dodged Mack and his team as they waited for the gate to establish, doing a mini jog down the steps as the third chevron locked. Movement from the corner of the corridor caught her attention._

_Slowly Dara walked over to the wall and frowned as the sight of Kimberley standing with her eyes scrunched shut as the gate established. "Kimberley?"_

_Kimberley jumped and opened her eyes, staring at Dara in shock. "Uh, yeah? Hi?"_

_"Don't 'hi' me." Dara shifted her weight to properly glare at her friend. "Why are you hiding over here?"_

_Kimberley shrugged._

_Dara got an idea. "C'mon, we're going to wave off Mack."_

_Kimberley looked at her. "What are you planning?"_

_Dara felt a small smile appearing on her lips but squashed it. "We're going off world with Mack."_

_"To a planet that is suspected to be Michael's latest base?" Kimberley quirked her brows._

_"Just, c'mon." Dara ordered, reaching out to grab her friends shoulder and dragged her towards the gate, nodding to the captain. "Hey Mack, we're taking you up on that offer."_

_Mack's eyebrows - and his teams - rose about a foot in the air at that threat. "Uh, are you sure Miss Baldwin?"_

_Dara nodded and pushed Kimberley towards the connected energy tunnel. Kimberley started thrashing about, trying to elbow her friend in the face. Dara ducked the blows and used her shoulder to wind Kimberley, grinning as her friend lost her balance and fell towards the gate._

_Kimberley caught herself in time and stared at her friend in horror. "What the hell are you playing at?"_

_"Why are you so freaked out by the gate?" Dara demanded, beginning to walk towards her friend, not noting Mack's team moving into position._

_"I'm not." Kimberley lied, rolling her eyes as she spotted a free space and began walking, shouting out as two members of Macks team picked her up and started dragging her towards the gate. "Stop!"_

_"Wait!" A new voice added from behind. Mack made a motion with his fist and everyone paused what they were doing._

_Doctor Baxter paused at the bottom of the steps to catch his breath._

_Someone coughed and he looked at them. 'Oh!' "Kimberley has to go through the gate of her own accord."_

_"Huh?" Mack asked._

_Baxter got into his psychologist role. "Kimberley suffered from a traumatic experience the last time she went through the gate. She needs to feel physically and mentally ready before she can go through the gate otherwise this may set her back in her recovery."_

_Dara glanced at him then nodded. Looking uncomfortable, she made her way over to Kimberley, placed her hands on her shoulders, and gave her a brief hug. "I'm sorry."_

_Kimberley looked freaked out, but nodded. "It's oka-hey!"_

_Everyone in the gate room stared as Dara pushed Kimberley through the last couple of feet of the gate. Dara turned to them and shrugged. "She went in with her own two feet."_

_Baxter looked like he wanted to say that was not what he meant, but shrugged and walked away in stead._

Carson shook his head to clear his memory banks as Kimberley waved to him as she stepped into the gate without saying her little ritual. 'Is it too late to change my bet?'  
o0o  
Lorne waved to Captain Conner, who nodded back to him and fanned out with Lieutenant Sanchez, Loeder and Ritter.

Major Hawkins looked at Kimberley, who had one hand on Evans TAC vest, and rolled his eyes. 'I hope she ain't going to be a security threat.'

Someone snapped on a twig and Kimberley jumped, her hand tightening around Evans back and pulled him down a bit. "There's someone in the trees!"

Lorne glanced around as he batted a hand behind him, getting her to free him and turned to glare at her before looking around with more focus. He raised his gun instantly at the sight of the material in the distance. "You're up Doc, civilians at three o'clock."

Rothman muttered something under his breath before straightening his jacket and waving to the people hiding behind the trees. "Hello! We are travelers from Atlantis who have used the Stargate to try and find trading partners and help against the Wraith."

"You forgot peaceful." Kimberley whispered to him as the natives, dressed in renaissance outfits, began to mutter amongst them selves.

Rothman glared at her from the corner of his eyes.

A pretty redhead with a high hairline and low bust line ran up to Conner and began tugging his hand. "Come! We must celebrate your time of coming! It is our harvest time!"

Conner began to follow, and then turned to look at Evan who glanced at the people then nodded.  
o0o  
Kimberley sat between Evan and his second in command, feeling severely out of place. It was not just that she was the only female in the room, but the men were guild like tanks, were comfortable around guns, and were enjoying the attention of the females parading about them.

Evan glanced to Kimberley and grinned. Leaning over he spoke in her ear. "I'm sure there is a cute guy here who can take your mind off the doc?"

As she leveled him with a glare, Evan put his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying! What happens off world stays off world."

"Uh hu." Kimberley smirked at him, and whipped out a video camera.

"You're not supposed to have anything from Earth off world with you!" Rothman exclaimed.

Kimberley blinked. "What, in case I forget it?"

"No, in case you tape us doing something too Earthy." Lorne grinned and put an arm around her shoulders. "C'mon Kimbo, relax."

"I will relax, but once we are back on Atlantis and without any STDs that you guys are going to catch if you go near those girls." Kimberley replied.

"Oh is that some hostility towards the natives?" Conner asked and she looked at him.

"No, it has to do with their pimps standing behind them and the lack of proper sanitation on this planet." Kimberley grumbled.

Evan frowned. "Are you having a bad feeling about this planet?"

"Immensely." She nodded.

After having an internal debate in his head, Evan nodded. "We're packing up guys."

"They're having a meal in our honor!" Loeder exclaimed.

"After we just arrived here within like minutes, and they were the ones that said we were from Atlantis." Kimberley pointed out.

"It might be the clothes?" Evan argued.

"Or it might be the fact they are fattening us up for some Wraith or some kind of sacrifice." Kimberley returned. "They did say that it was their harvest? And the food they have isn't exactly stellar."

"Jeez, killing that guy made her bitter and twisted with the world." Sanchez muttered.

Evan nodded to the female of the group and turned to the main female who had been hanging around with them all night. "Asillie, we've been traveling all day, is it alright if we go check in with our people before getting some shut eye?"

"Anything you want, _Major_." Asillie giggled to him and stood from the trunk, bending down to kiss him on the forehead and left him cross-eyes.  
o0o  
Chuck read Lorne's teams IDC and muttered to himself. 'Please tell me she didn't kill anyone, that's the only bet I didn't make.'

"Whose team is it Chet?" Woolsey asked as he sipped from his mug.

Chuck glared at the leader of the expedition before reading off the information he had on the screen. "Its Major Lorne's team sir."

"Pffft." Woolsey spat the tea out. "Call the infirmary, lower the shield on the gate and prepare for the worst."

Amelia glanced at their so-called un movable leader. "They've only been gone a few hours."

"That's the worrying point!" Woolsey exclaimed. 'Oh why did I think that this was a good idea?'

As Amelia patched through a call to the infirmary and the defense teams got in position, Lorne's team stepped through the gate, unscaved, unhurt, no bullet holes, arrows anywhere, paint free, boo-boo free and generally as healthy as they went off world a little over three hours ago.

The entire population of the control room groaned.

"Uh hey guys, what's up?" Kimberley asked, looking at them in confusion. "John's team come in hot or something?"

'Or something.' Chuck thought to himself and glanced down the list to see who the lucky winner was.

"Why did you come back so quickly?" Woolsey demanded once the gate had shut down and there was some semblance of silence and order in the gate room.

The regular members of the team glared at Kimberley, who looked to the ground as if it was a laptop.

"What did you do?" Woolsey asked, holding back a sigh.

"Erm, it's more like, um, what I felt." Kimberley glanced up at him and her face turned scarlet. "The way the natives were behaving was suspicious."

"You're just a prude." Sanchez shot at her.

Kimberley glared at him. "It just didn't seam right! The way the girls were throwing them selves all over you guys-"

"You were jealous of the attention?" Baxter appeared from behind Woolsey and Kimberley jumped at him.

She glared at him, causing Carson to step closer with a PRN calming drug. "I had a feeling that something was going to go wrong." She turned her head to look at Woolsey. "And you said that if I ever got one of those feelings, I was to follow it?"

Woolsey nodded slowly. "While we may have lost a valuable trading partner, if there was something wrong then I am sure it would be within our interests to not pursue that matter any further."

Kimberley smiled at him.

Woolsey got a gleam in his eye.

The smile fell from her lips.

"However, on the off chance that your feeling is simple something female, I shall send a team through tomorrow to double check." He finished and fixed her with a stare.

Reluctantly Kimberley nodded, and then followed the rest of the team as they made their way to their post mission check ups.  
o0o  
The following day, after spending a night in the observation room in the infirmary, Kimberley, Evan and his team made their way to the gate room as the gate activated.

Woolsey sent Doctor Porter and her team through the gate and turned to Kimberley. "I suspect they will take a while before returning, would you like to accompany me to -"

The gate spun to life.

"Now that was fast." Lorne commented and they waited for the gate to establish before Chuck started a radio signal between the two planets.

"Doctor Porter, what has caused you to report so quickly? Surely you haven't made it to the base camp already?" Woolsey spoke clearly.

"They're dead." Porter's voice shook over the radio. "Every last one of them is dead. Wraith guns are in the area and most of the buildings are destroyed. Some bodies have Wraith feeding marks on them."

Kimberley heard a clanging in her head and felt someone pushing her head below her heart and she tried to take a few deep breaths. After a minute, she slowly eased back up. "I'm okay. I-I'm okay."

She turned to Evan and tried to stem the tears. "It's all our fault!"

"There was no way we could have known that this was going to happen." Evan tried to placate her.

Tears rolled down her face and she tried to wipe them away.

Conner rolled his eyes. "Will you suck it up, things like this happen. You think every time we come back from planets they all have a happily ever after?"

"No-no but-" Kimberley tried to respond.

Carson frowned. "Is something else the matter?"

"Oh God she's pregnant!" Evan yelled.

_That_stopped Kimberley crying. She turned to Evan and glared. "I am not pregnant. I-I'm just really sad that they died."

"And?" Carson prodded. "They were going to sell you out to the Wraith, why else are you sad?"

"I miss Dara okay?" She whispered and crossed her arms. "The last time we didn't talk for this long was when I was an idiot and considering we've been in constant communication for over three and a half years, it gets a little lonely here."

"Well I'm sure Carson could help you not to be lonely." Woolsey stepped up to the plate and offered.

Everyone spun to look at him. Kimberley started coughing as Carson turned brick red.

"Dude, do you want her pregnant?" Mack called out of the silence.

"I meant with stock control!" Woolsey replied hotly.

"Oh I'm sure she can help with his stock control." Sanchez grinned and knocked the Scottish mans shoulder with his own.

"Will you all stop with the innuendoes?" Brent finally called out and everyone turned to look at him. 'What?'

Woolsey turned to the group and tried not to let his aggravation show. "I was merely stating that with Miss Baldwin gone, and with the complications that have happened with their transport, I am sure that Doctor Beckett can find you useful activities to occupy yourself and not destroy this base while doing so."

'I fell slightly insulted.' Kimberley pulled a face at Woolsey, but nodded.

"Are you sure you do not wish to talk to me about why you always associate Kimberley making the wrong choices and killing us all?" Baxter offered Woolsey, who simply glared at the British quack. "Or not."

Kimberley bit her lip, watched everyone go their own separate ways, and turned to look at the gate. 'I can't wait till Dara gets back; this place is too boring without her.'


	50. Kimberley Meets Michael Again

Mack groaned as Kimberley walked past him with a P90 in her hands. "Miss Boyce!"

"Yes Captain Gordon?" She asked, stopping in front of him.

"Hand it over." He demanded.

"Hand what over?" She asked, looking innocent.

"The fake P90." He gestured with his hands.

With a sigh, the alternate reality female handed over the toy gun and half grinned, half grimaced. "Hey it was inventive, you don't need to tell Carson about this, do you?"

"Oh yes he does." Carson answered for him.

"Other wise he's getting his booster shot early." Mack finished.

"Hey we should be concerned about Mack talking about himself in third person!" Kimberley exclaimed.

Carson raised an eyebrow and passed her a 9 mill. "Take the gun and go meet Lorne hen, and Dara told me to tell you 'remember the rules'."

"What rules?" Brent asked with a frown. "Are these the numbers you and Dara keep saying to each other?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Carson replied to him and began walking away.

"Doc? Mack!" He called out and followed after them.

Kimberley shook her head at their in love antics and hurried along the corridor, coming to a stop in front of Major Evan Lorne. "Hey Ev."

Lorne looked a little worried before he nodded. "Hey Kimbo, what's up?"

"Nothing much." She looked around at the team members and nodded to them. "So what's the main bets this time?"

"That you'll finally meet and talk with Todd before getting kidnapped again." Lorne grinned.

Kimberley shivered. "No ta. I've met Halling, that dudes scary."

"What has Halling got to do with Todd?" Johnson, Lorne's second in command for the mission, asked with a frown.

"Actually Kimberley, Dara left me a note for you." Carson interrupted. "It says to remember rule 391. What's rule 391?"

Kimberley shook her head. "Sorry guys not allowed to say."

"Anyway, let's roll out." Evan spoke to his men, motioning for them to go through the gate first. He waited till it was just him and Kimberley before he stepped up to her. "You still doing your little thing before each mission?"

Kimberley blushed at being caught and bit her lip. "I was thinking not, since it never really works."

"Well think of the times you have done it, and the eventual outcomes." Lorne began. "Then think of the times you didn't do it and what happened then?"

"It's just a silly superstition, and I have enough of those." Kimberley tried to brush him off.  
Evan grinned at her. "Do it or don't do it Kimbo, but we've all got your back."

Still biting her lip Kimberley nodded before stepping closer to the gate horizon. As she silently said her prayer, again she hoped no one was watching her in the gate room.  
o0o  
"Kimberley doing her ritual again?" Ronon asked as he handed Woolsey a stack of reports.

The newest leader of the expedition nodded. "Although why she does this is quite unclear. She is not very religious."

"Aye she is." Carson frowned. "She's Christian."

"Not practicing though." Chuck offered.

"But how exactly can you be a practicing anything apart from atheist when you are about a billion light years, never mind galaxy and reality, from the nearest church?" Carson argued.

Woolsey nodded. "Be that as the case, it is merely superstition that causes Miss Boyce to do such rituals."

"Just be thankful she doesn't do any off world." Ronon added. 'Yet.'  
o0o  
Evan waited then prodded Kimberley with his gun. "C'mon Kimbo, lights a waisting."

Kimberley opened her eyes and giggled at him, before walking through the gate, one hand on her gun, the other on the strap of her backpack.

Moments later, she blinked at the darkness that surrounded her, and then looked around at the team that was spread out across the area. "Gate secure?"

"Yes ma'am." Johnson called out.

Something flittered cross Kimberley brain, causing her to mess with her ponytail, and then look up. 'Why me?' "WRAITH!"

Lorne whirled around and looked around her, then followed where her head was pointed and swore to himself. "Head for cover!"

Everyone broke into pairs and scattered, some heading for the trees, some heading for the rock formation not that far away, Kimberley and Lorne heading for the stargate as it cut off.

"Dial the gate." Evan ordered, raising his P90 and swept it in front of him, keeping his eyes and ears open for any darts.

"Is that a good idea?" Kimberley asked, hand hovering over the first chevron.

"Once we get through we can block this world from the list, now dial!" Evan ordered as Darts began to decent around them, their beam heading for where his team members usually where. He swore and raised the P90 to his chest as Kimberley finished dialing the gate. "Go through!"

"Not without you." She shook her head and moved to him, dropping her backpack in order to fly at him, knocking him down and causing him to stumble backwards into the gate as a beam shot down and engulfed Kimberley.

He stared horrified as the gate room of Atlantis came into his line of vision and Ronon glared at him. "Where's Kimberley?"

"Uh-" He cut himself off as the gate shut down. Fearfully he looked around the gate room, passed Ronons enraged face, Carsons pale look and Brent's horror filled mug to see the empty gate. Lorne turned to look at them and gutted a finger behind him. "Back there?"  
o0o  
Kimberley felt something patting her cheek, so she pulled her face away from it, frowning as her other cheek lay on a slightly slimy but also cold floor. She froze as hands traveled down her neck, along her arms and tried not to hyperventilate as they reached inside her jacket.

"Leave her alone!" Someone called from across the hall and Kimberley cracked open an eye to see a Wraith kneeling down besides her sneering towards the other cell doors.

"I think not." He replied and turned to look at her, smirking as he caught her looking at him. "It appears you have awoken."

Kimberley nodded slowly.

The Wraith cocked his head and brought up a cell phone to his eye level, keeping one eye on her. "What technology is this?"

"Boyce!" The same voice called out and Kimberley felt her lips quirk.

"You're the first one to find out I have it off world. You deserve a cookie." She grinned, and then cried out as he slapped her with the phone still in his hand.

Using his other hand the Wraith hauled her to a standing position and shook her. "Walk human."

"A please would be nice." Kimberley grumbled, flinching as he brought his feeding hand up and stopped it inches from her chest. "I'm a walkin I'm a walkin!"

Johnson watched as Kimberley was more or less dragged by the newest alien threat and hung his head. 'That girl is going to-'

He paused as he spotted a knife laying not that far from where the door to his cell was. He stuck his head out and noticed Kimberley was giving him backwards thumbs up. 'That girl...'  
o0o  
"So where is Kimberley?" Carson asked Lorne, who winced as he was given a sedative for the pain.

"I think the dart got her doc." Lorne replied, and wondered why there was no back up to help stop the Scottish doctor from killing him.

Ronon entered the room.

'Back up! Wait, who for?' Evan thought and watched him walk towards the bed he was lying on.

Ronon stopped beside Lorne's bed and looked at him before bending down, making sure to keep his hands behind his back.

Lorne looked up at him and gulped before the sedative finally kicked in and darkness saved him.  
o0o  
Kimberley looked around the room as she waited for Michael or one of his hybrids to enter. She spotted a consol, glanced around before taking out a small iPod, and stuck it into the correct spot, grinning as it began synchronizing up data.

'Play?' Kimberley asked herself as the word popped up on screen before she shrugged and selected it.  
o0o  
Every body

Michael looked up as music began to resonate through the walls of his hive.

Rock your body

He frowned, cocking his head as a strange and unfamiliar voice began to sing through the halls.

Back streets back

With a swear Michael left the room he was in and headed for his control room, anger burning in his eyes.

Alright!  
o0o  
"Oh no, nonononononono." Kimberley muttered to herself, pounding onto the consol to get the music to shut off, causing it to change from Backstreet Boys, to Britney Spears, to My Chemical Romance and then Eretha Kitt before she finally got the music to turn off.

"What are you doing?" Michael spoke behind her, causing her to gasp and jump around, body hiding the iPod as it got a third of the way complete.

"Eh, trying to lighten the mood?" She replied, watching him warily. After the chat with Dara and Carson, more so the way Dara had beat it into her skull about the fact that Michael was a born wraith with a high vengeance level, she was slightly more wary of the human/wraith hybrid. 'But it's not his fault!'

Michael stopped a few feet from her, close enough to one of the consoles to begin entering data. "Why is it when ever I cull a planet I seem to find you or one of your friends?"

"We're like cockroaches, ain't getting rid of us." She grinned, and then shuddered. 'Okay, bad analogy.'

Michael walked closer to her and snatched the iPod from its holder, looking at it inquisitively. "I have seen this device before."

"It's an iPod. It plays music." She motioned for it and he glanced at her hand, then her face, before slowly placing it on her hand. "Thanks."

Michael nodded to her, and then looked at her. "I thought you were a consultant for the Atlantis people?"

"I am." Kimberley replied.

"Then why have you been off world so much?" He questioned.

"I dunno, but every time I'm off world I either get kidnapped by you or stuck to someone." Kimberley joked.

Michael blinked as though listening to cricket being told then held out a tablet. "I know you can read Ancient, and you are capable of reading some Wraith."

"Yeah..." She trailed, accepting the data pad wearily. "What of?"

"I want to see if you can understand this." Michael ordered.

Kimberley glanced down at it and crossed her eyes. "I need my note book. And the screen paused."

"So you can not verbally translate the Wraith into your language." Michael seemed displeased.

"No I can, its just, uh, I don't think I'll get everything right." Kimberley began to sweat.

Michael watched her, and then nodded. "If you complete this then I will let you all go."

"Ya know, for an evil dude, you ain't that bad." She smiled to him, looking at the information and frowned. "I know this code...why do I know this code?"

"The Wraith you called Todd had it installed in his hive ship." Michael shared. "I know it has something to do with my research, and simply want what is mine."

"Oh you mean the code to get the organic hive ships working?" Kimberley guessed, and then chomped her lips shut. 'Crap!'

"How do you know about this?" Michael demanded.

Kimberley remained close-lipped, aware that if she said anything she would be breaking rule sixty-two and a halleva lot more.

Michael watched her and frowned. "I will kill you friends, slowly and painfully, if you do not give me the information that I seek."

"They ain't my friends." Kimberley replied, crossing her arms, the data pad tucked under her arm oddly.

"Tell me what I want to know." Michael's anger was growing, and then he paused and took a breath. "We could work something out."

"Like what?" She asked.

"I can give you information of all the planets I have infected with my version of the Hoffian drug." He bargained.

Kimberley bit her lip. 'Okay. The code was his, but then again he was using it to create organic hive ships, and a mobile Michael is a dangerous Michael- hell a breathing Michael is a dangerous Michael. But if I knew were the planets were, I could help Carson not feel as bad...' "Okay."

Michael looked taken aback, but nodded.  
o0o  
"We ready to go?" Lorne asked AT15, Ronon and Carson.

They nodded and Evan nodded to Chuck in the gate room.

As they waited for the gave to establish a connection Evan turned to the group and got their attention. "Uh, if we get Kimbo and the boys back all safe and sound, no reason to tell the Col or Dara, right?"

Carson raised and eyebrow and Ronon began twirling his gun as though in thought. The Sedetan spoke first. "Put it this way, if she's hurt, it's your funeral they'll be back for."

'Whoa boy.' Mack thought as Evan paled significantly.

"Now Ronon, you need to stop threatening everyone." Teyla frowned to him.

Ronon grunted.

Teyla rolled her eyes. "Return soon, and in one piece."  
o0o  
Kimberley paused as she translated the text and looked at Michael.

Michael continued to work on his own work, but slowed down before looking straight ahead, then turned to look at Kimberley. "Have you finished?"

Kimberley waved a hand at him, her attention completely on the data pad in front of her.

Michael fought the urge to roll his eyes and stalked towards her, peering over her shoulder to look at her work. "You are playing card games?"

"Yah!" Kimberley jumped and threw the data pad into the air.

Michael caught it and pressed at button; the screen changed to show the complete translation. "Why did you not say that you had completed the translation previously?"

"Uh, because I still don't know if you are going to kill us all." Kimberley replied hesitantly and stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes as Michael glanced from the data pad to her.

"You kept you end of the bargain." He replied.

Kimberley raised her eyebrows. "And since when has that stopped ya before?"

"True." Michael nodded and watched Kimberley stiffen with fear. "I had thought about sending clones back in your place."

Kimberley gulped. "A-are you?"

Michael sneered and scared the crap out of her. "It seems like an over used idea. And how can I make you fall for one of my double crossing plans if you are not alive?"

"Was that a joke?" Kimberley asked.

Michael nodded.

She grinned. "That wasn't that bad Michael. You almost got me."

There was a lull in the conversation and the female looked to the science experiment. "About your part of the deal, the planets that have been inflicted with your version of the Hoffain dug?"

Woodlessly he handed her back her iPod, which caused her hend to fly to her side. She glared at him accusingly. Michael looked at her, and then his head cocked to the side. "I must apologies."

Kimberley frowned again. 'I am SO going to get wrinkles!' "I should bloody-"  
o0o  
Carson scanned the sky as he exited the gate for any sign of Kimberley, the team she was with or the Hive ship.

"DART!" Ronon yelled and pushed Carson to the ground beside the gate as it advanced towards them.

Lorne and Ronon raised their guns, but for some reason every shot missed.

The dart zoomed past them, then turned around and headed back.

"Shoot it down!" Lorne ordered the men with him and Iero lined the dart up to the sight of his rocket launcher.

Carson felt something in his gut and turned to Iero. "Fire that thing and you're getting a physical with Nurse Greta!"

Iero jumped at the threat, causing the rocket launcher to shoot, missing the dart by inches.

The beam shot out and Ronon prepared to be sucked up, 'oof'ing as Kimberleys unconscious form landed on top of him, the rest of the team following suit milliseconds later, although in worse conditions.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth Carson urged them all to grab the unconscious team members and ran to the DHD, slamming his hand on the tiles. Within seconds, they were pressed and he was dancing like he needed to go to the bathroom.

'Finally!' "This is Doctor Beckett; we're coming back with everyone unconscious." Carson said and motioned for the team to go through as Chuck confirmed that the shield was down.  
o0o  
With a groan, Kimberley tried to turn over, but a pull on her arm made her pause.

Purple, black, green and white flashed through her mind and she sat up gasping for breath, head whirling around the room in panic. A scream rose in her throat but died as something put its arm around her stomach and pulled her to them.

"Ssh, calm doon hen." Carsons voice called in her ear and she remained frozen before realizing, allowing her body to lean onto him.

Once Carson let go of her she sat up like a shot. "That little rat shot me!"

"Where?" Carson looked her over.

Kimberley batted his hands away. "With a stunner."

"What is it with you and getting stunn-ed?" Carson looked at her. "Who shot you?"

Biting her lip, she shook her head, not wanting to answer.

Carson raised an eye brown as she let out a huff of annoyance. "It was Michael, okay?"

"I have their results back Carson." Jennifer smiled as she entered, nodding to Kimberley. "How are you feeling?"

Kimberley shrugged.

"You need to run another test." Carson whispered hoarsely.

"What, kind of, test?" Jennifer was confused.

"Check their telomere levels." Carson replied.

Alarms started ringing. "I don't think I'm a clone!"

Jennifer and Carson looked at her.

Kimberley crossed her arms carefully and glared at them, nodding like a petulant child.  
o0o  
A few hours later Kimberley was moved closer to the other guys that had been on the ship with her.

Johnson looked at her and grinned. "You aren't so bad Kimbo."

She looked startled, but nodded as he handed back the knife.

"That my hunting knife?" Ronon asked from the doorway.

Jumping, Kimberley turned her head to look at him. She nodded. "I thought that I would need it."

Ronon looked at her then grinned. "Next time, take the bigger one."

Kimberley rolled her eyes at him. "It's always the bigger one with you!"

Before Ronon could reply Carson, Jennifer and Woolsey entered the room they were in.

Carson took a breath. "I have you results."

"Well? Is it a boy or a girl?" Kimberley asked.

Woolsey gave her a look. "You have to stop making that joke."

Kimberley nodded.

"None of you are clones, although there are some extra minerals in your blood stream Kimberley." Jennifer finished.

"What does that mean?" Kimberley blinked.

"We think Michael drugged you after he shot you." Carson replied.

"But why?" Kimberleys face scrunched up in wonder. "I cooperated! I didn't even annoy him, much..."

"What do you mean you cooperated?" Johnson demanded.

Kimberley found her sheets very interesting.

"An answer today would be nice." Johnson continued.

Kimberley lifted her head to look at Carson. "He wanted me to translate Todd's code for the organic hive ships."

"And you did it?" Several people demanded.

"It was that or let him kill the team." Kimberley returned. "I can handle him hurting me, but I refuse to let him hurt anyone when I can stop it."

Suddenly she grinned. "And when he puts the code in, there is a slight problem with it."

"What did you do?" Rodney piped up from the bed beside Johnson.

"What are you doing here?" Kimberley asked.

"I have a concussion, now what did you do to the file?" Rodney demanded.

"I put in a few song lyrics, a couple of paragraphs for a story and the virus that Radek was teaching me." Kimberley replied.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Johnson refused to think she was the good as spontaneity.

She shrugged. "I had this feeling that something like this was going to happen."

"You've been practicing?" Carson guessed.

The female nodded.

None of them looked to happy.

"Oh!" Kimberley slapped her hands together. Her hands dug through her pockets and she brought out her iPod. "I downloaded stuff from Michaels consol. I think there might be some useful stuff in there. And he gave me a list of planets that he has infected with the Hoffain drug."

Carson looked away.

Johnson shook his head as though he couldn't beleve a brunnette could be this blonde.

Kimberley smiled at them and they took a step back. "Hey, now that we're back all safe and sound, no need to tell Dara or John, right?"

'Is there an echo in here?' Carson asked as he shook his head.


	51. The Wanderers Return

The gate spun to life and Chuck looked up from his book to read out the caller ID. "Its the Daedalus dialing."

"Finally." Kimberley grumbled to herself and jumped up from her sitting position underneath his desk, shoving the paper work on top the computer before pressing her ear piece. "Carson, rally the troops, Dara and John are back!"  
o0o  
Carson looked up from where he was re patching up Ronons stitches and nodded to himself. "Col. Sheppard and Dara are back."

"Great." Ronon replied and tried to jump up, being stopped by Carson pulling him down.

"They've been gone for a week, they won't disappear if you don't get to them immediately." Carson leveled him with a glare.

Ronon huffed and shuffled in the seat.

"You wouldn't have to wait if you stopped punching walls instead of using a hammer to hang a picture up." Carson reminded him.

"Hnn." Ronon looked away in embarrassment.  
o0o  
Rodney glanced up from his work as Kimberley knocked on his doorway. "Lunch time already?"

Kimberley shook her head and paused to get her breath back.

"Did you run here and not use the transporters?" Rodney guessed.

She nodded and took a gulp of breath, holding it before slowly releasing it and began speaking normally. "The Daedalus just dialed, John and Dara are back!"

"Why didn't you say so!" Rodney demanded and quickly logged off the data pads he was using, shutting down his experiments and paused to look at her. "Go, I'll use the transporters and beat you at this rate."

Kimberley nodded and turned to walk away, then turned back. "Could you get Jen too?"

Rodney blushed but nodded. Kimberley smiled at him then ran from the room.  
o0o  
John grabbed Daras bags as they prepared to go back 'home'. "You ready?"

She turned to him and fixed him with a glare, causing him to panic (he didn't have an arm free to defend himself!) before she leaned over and kissed him quickly. "Do anything like that again and I'll put a live squirrel down your pants."

John wondered if she was telling the truth, then nodded inside his head. 'Oh yeah, she would.'

Col Caldwell nodded to them as he walked towards the bridge. "You two crazy kids ready to return home?"

Dara nodded but said nothing.

"Well come back any time. You two. Just, you two." Caldwell continued before nodding once more and left the room, continuing his journey.

Dara frowned. 'I thought he hadn't met Kimberley yet?'

John grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. It seems that after spending so much alone time together, they had deepened their bond, and unfortunately, that meant that she could almost read his mind.

"OW!"  
o0o  
Kimberley sat on the bottom step in the gate room and bobbed her head backwards and forwards as the group gathered together, everyone waiting for their two missing people to come back to the fold.

At last, a beam of white light shone down on the middle of the floor, the designated beaming station, and within seconds the light had retracted to reveal a happy John, and impassive Dara and a bundle of suitcases and a large duffle bag on the floor.

"Hey!" Kimberley grinned and jumped up, moving quickly to her friend, gaking as she was held back by Ronon.

"Don't glomp her." Ronon stage whispered.

Kimberley glared at him, and he let her go. Slowly, she walked over to her friend, invaded her personal space and hugged the stuffing out of her. "OhMGod how was his Earth? Did you have fun? Did you meet anyone? Where did you go? Where did you stay? Did you bring presents?"

Dara placed her hands on her friends shoulder and Kimberley let up, slowly stepping back and allowing Dara to breath freely. "Uh...maybe. But I'm going to sleep, so annoy me about it tomorrow."

Kimberley looked at the bags and grinned.

"John will grab the bags." Dara pointed out and waved to them all. "Hi. Bye."

The head of the military within the expedition glanced at his girlfriend, then the bags, and sighed, grabbing them as Lorne, Ronon, Carson and Rodney moved to help him. "Thanks guys."

"Welcome back Col." Woolsey spoke from the balcony, nodding to him.

John nodded in return.

"Rest up. You have an early mission tomorrow." Woolsey told him and turned away before the just back man could say anything.

John looked to his friends.

"Welcome back John." Carson smiled to him.  
o0o  
Ronon grunted and Teyla inclined her head. "Torren has missed you."

"I've missed the little Tyke too." John replied, then looked to Rodney, who was staring at Jennifer as she walked with Kimberley and Dara towards the transporters. "Alright Rodney."

"What? Yes, hi." Rodney replied, turning to look at his friend after two of the three females entered the ancient transportation device and the other walked the long way. "Have fun?"

John nodded, suddenly overcome with tiredness. 'Maybe Dara had a good idea about hitting the hay?' "I'm pretty beat guys, wanna give me a hand to get this to mine and Daras room?"

His team, and Carson, nodded and each grabbed a bag or two before heading for the transporters.  
o0o  
The next morning Woolsey called Kimberley to his office.

After she sat down he handed her a folder and clasped his hands in front of him, counting down in his head for her reaction. 'Three...two...one...'

Kimberley frowned to Woolsey. "Why am I going off world again? And with team one? I like my health in tact thank you very much."

Woolsey frowned at her. "I have my reasons."

"And I can't bribe them outta ya?" She grinned.

"No." He replied instantly. "On you go Miss Boyce, I have work to do."

"Bye Mister Woolsey!" Kimberley called before she left the room, quickly walking down the stairs, smiling to Radek as she passed him. "Hi Radek! Bye Radek!"

Radek nodded his head and continued to run programs on his data pad.

John nodded to her as she slid to a stop beside them. "Ready to go Boyce?"

"Wait, you knew I was going with?" Kimberley asked. "And you didn't say anything?"

"Lorne filled me in this morning about how you handled your self the last few missions." John replied, trying to sound casual. "I want to see for myself how good your getting."

"Okay." She nodded, itching to get off world before something went wrong.

"Dara said she found this in a pickle jar." John held out Kimberleys 9 mill towards her.

'Blitsnack!' She cursed in her head but took the gun, slipping it into the holder while continuing to mentally grumble.

John nodded to Chuck, who nudged Dara, who grinned before she began the dialing sequence.

The wormhole whooshed out to the group and Kimberley stared at it transfixed. Ronon shoulder her, causing her to stumble but she righted herself before walking forward and placing a hand on the event horizon. 'I wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight; I wish for a peaceful mission.'

Kimberley kept her eyes closed as she stepped through the gate, opening them at the whine of guns. She stopped and stared at the wraith holding everyone and shook her head. 'Seriously!'

One of the drones nudged John and Rodney to move forward. Another two dragged Ronon face down by his feet behind then in the same direction. Kimberley looked between the two drones that were flanking her and began walking, nodding to Teyla who was hiding in the trees.

She stumbled over her own two feet and crashed to the ground, grinning to herself as she slipped her gun off holster and onto the ground, hidden by shrubbery.

Kimberley noted then were all being herded into one hastily build hut and relief flooded through her, changing into confusion as she entered the hut and came fae to face with Nate. She blinked. ''Nate?''

Nate nodded and continued to glare at her.

''Aren't you dead?'' she asked, and then turned to john. ''He was dead, right? He did die?''

John nodded. ''He did.''

She turned to Rodney. ''But he's alive now, right?''

''It would appear so.'' Rodney snarled.

''Oh, okay.'' Kimberley nodded.

''I think your broke her brain.'' John quipped to Nate. ''She does have a brain!''

"If she is broken father will not be pleased." Nate stated, stepping forward to examine the female.

"Whoa, too close buddy." John exclaimed, coming between them.

Nate nodded to the two guards, who stepped forward and frog marched Kimberley from the hut. Nate smirked to the group as he left.

John, Rodney, Ronon and Teyla shared a look. 'What is it with that girl and getting kidnapped?'  
o0o  
Kimberley smiled to Michael when she spotted him. "Hey Michael, what's up?"

"I am going to experiment on you." Michael inclined his head.

"Great, experimented on, again, after being kidnapped, again." Kimberley muttered to herself. "Why do you keep kidnapping me?"

"Your arm." He ordered, dismissing her chatter, and then frowned. "Have you received a skin graft recently? Why?"

"I got my arm burned," Kimberley looked away, wincing as he squeezed her wrist. "You didn't noticed last time you had me?"

"Who did this? I will kill them." Michael seethed.

"Can't." Kimberley shook her head. "He's already dead. I-I killed him."

"Good." He nodded then frowned as she frowned. "Would you rather he hurt another?"

"But I killed him." She bit her lip. "I'm a murdered. I'm evil - why do you care?"

Michael brought a hand up to wipe away her tears. "You are not evil; you did what you had to do to survive. And I do not know. You are a strange being."

Kimberley smiled to him. "Thank you, I think."

Michael motioned for her other hand and prepared to take more blood. He worked silently and Kimberley watched him carefully.

"How are you?" Michael almost dropped the vial he was holding as she spoke to him.

"Excuse me?" He asked, head slipping to the side face filled with confusion.

Kimberley smiled brightly despite her blotchy red cheeks. "You keep saving me from the scary one, and it's a question you ask your friends."

"Are we friends?" He asked, returning his head to its proper alignment.

"I hope so." She nodded, rolling her sleeves down and glanced at him. "Well, ya gonna answer?"

"I am well." He nodded.

"Cool." She bopped her head. "Are you gonna let us go?"

"I have all I need." Michael stated, then stepped closed to her. "How are you?"

Kimberley blinked before grinning like a fool. "Pretty good, just a little tired."

Michael accepted the answer with a nod. "You should go to bed earlier."

"I can't. Because of the hours and environment my boyfriend keeps, if I want to talk with him I need to stay up late." Kimberley blushed. "Add in my friend wants me up hours before a meeting or a mission, and you get one tired Kimbo."

Michael nodded and allowed her idle prattle to wash over him.

After a while, Kimberley stopped rambling in nervousness and looked around the stone bunker type building she was in, jumping as Nate entered the room.

Nate glanced at the female then looked to his father. "You wanted to see me?"

Michael nodded and turned to Nate with a needle, taking some of his blood before turning back to his Petri dishes.

Nate glanced at the female, pondering why she blushed when she noticed him looking at her. He walked closer to her, but kept his distance, remembering what happened the last time he got to close.  
o0o  
John groaned as he came too. He glanced around the room they were being held in and noticed that Kimberley was no where in sight. 'Just once, just ONCE, I would like a nice, peaceful mission where nothing goes wrong, no one gets kidnapped and there is no peril! Never mind mortal peril or rescue teams needed!'

"He's internally monologuing again, isn't he?" Rodney asked Ronon, who looked over that their leader and nodded.

"Bound to." Ronon replied, wincing as he popped his thumb out of place and slid his hands free, grimacing as he popped it back into place and waved them about before grabbing a knife from his hair.

Rodney rolled his eyes at the aliens grin.  
o0o  
Dara zipped up her BDU and looked to Woolsey. "Hopefully it won't take that long to drag John's captures butt through the gate."

Woolsey nodded. "How much back up do you want?"

"Well they were meeting a new race, and they got into trouble with the priest on their last mission, so I think Evans team will do." Dara thought then nodded.

Evan looked up as his name was mentioned. 'Will she stop singing me up for suicide missions? Wait, does she know about Kimbo getting kidnapped last time?'

Dara ignored Lorne's look of panic and checked her gun.  
o0o  
Inside the makeshift medical facility Kimberley glanced at Michael as he worked diligently.

"Why do you keep taking my blood?" Kimberley asked Michael.

"It is unique." Michael answered. "And interesting."

"Nothing about me is interesting." She muttered to herself.

"Your blood type is not like anything I have encountered." Michael informed her, pulling something up in his data pad.

"Well only 4 and a half percent of the world's population has O negative blood, even less is RH neg, and I'm from another galaxy." Kimberley rolled her eyes.

"Reality." Michael replied without looking up, and then he passed a data pad to Kimberley. "This is your blood, and this blood is from Dara."

Kimberley glanced at it, then frowned and pulled it closer to her face. "That's odd."

Michael nodded and dropped something into a Petri dish and motioned for Kimberley to look. She looked at him oddly before passing him the data pad and placed one eye on the microscope, frowning as one set of cells split the other set up until they were minute.

She sat back and looked at him. "It's like eraser bits!"

Michael nodded, and then looked at her. "What?"

"The other blood cells are breaking down the other ones so much they are disappearing." Kimberley replied, and then blushed.

"Not quite." Michael zoomed out and Kimberley looked back to see the other blood clinging to the top part of the dish, but it was weaker than before.

She looked confused. "So my blood is scared of Wraith blood? Holy hell my blood is sentient!"

Chuckling at the thought of any part of her being sentient, he shook his head. "The blood that is attacking is not Wraith, it is yours."

'Shit.' Kimberley jumped and backed away from him. "Don't kill me!"

Nate stepped forward and Kimberley whirled around to him. He looked to his leader as though to ask for guidance.

"It's not my fault my blood is like the Hoffian drug!" Kimberley was close to hysterics.

"Do calm down." Nate ordered and stepped towards her, grinning as she stepped backwards.

"I only want to run a few tests, and then you will be allowed to leave." Michael told her.

"What kind of tests?" She asked.

"I want to map your DNA to see if there are any differences with the humans of this world, see if it is compatible with my hybrids." Michael began. "And see if you can be fed upon."

Kimberley winced and stopped away from him, rubbing her chest at the same time. "Trust me; I have the scars to prove it already."

"Yes, however that is from an alternate Wraith to this timeline." Michael argued.

"I am _**not**_going to let you use me so that when you find a way to my world you can bleed them all dry!" Kimberley denied.

"You have no say in the matter." Nate whirled her around and slammed his feeding hand onto her chest, grinning as she flinched. Then he turned to Michael for ordered and frowned at the red dot that was aimed behind his head. "The humans have escaped!"

Michael turned to gather his research the same time as a bullet singed through the air, embedding its self in Kimberleys arm, causing her to scream aloud and jerk away, the surprise causing Nate to feed on her.

Michael stopped gathering his equipment to stare at Kimberleys body begin to turn blue instead of age. "Reverse the process, I do not wish to make you again."

Nate nodded and they left the hut seconds before teams one, two, fifteen and Dara burst in.

Dara ran through the hut and caught herself before she went flying over Kimberleys body. "Found her!"

"Ronon, Way; grab her. Iero, Way; take point and six. Lorne; you and your team head back for the gate and secure it." John ordered, and then looked around. "McKay, grab what you can."

"Where's Teyla?" Dara asked, fingers searching for a pulse before she would let Kimberley go.

"She saw Michael taking off and followed him." John replied, holding his P-90 up in case any of the drones were on suicide mode.

"And you let her!" Dara seethed. "Do you not remember that he likes to kidnap Teyla?"

"I am not completely defenseless." Teyla spoke as she appeared at the door. "Nor am I stupid enough to get kidnapped repeatedly."

"Just be thank full she's unconscious, I have a hard enough time reminding her she isn't stupid." Dara glared.

"I apologize; I do not mean to insult Kimberley." Teyla inclined her head.

John radio crackled and he paused to listen, then nodded, "Gates secure, let's move it people!"

Ronon and Way paused as Dara marched up to them. "Get her back to the gate as quick as possible, I don't care what you hear from us, got it?"

They nodded.

The group took off, John and Teyla dispatching of the Wraith that got too close to them.

Ronon growled as he missed out in the fun, but kept his mind focused on getting Kimberley out of there. 'She has got to stop doing this. She's gonna give me grey locks.'

As they neared the gate they spotted a ship taking off in the distance.

"Told you!" Dara hissed at John, who nodded. Dara grabbed her walkie talkie and activated it. "Lorne, grab the rocket launcher, there's a ship north to north east of the gates position."

"How do you know where it is?" John was puzzled.

"I want him dead." Dara looked at John with murder in her eyes. "I think at this stage of the game I could tell you how far away he is."

"She's a little scary." They heard Iero whisper to Lorne through the communicator.

"You do know she can hear you, right?" Lorne replied, and they grinned as Iero began swearing. In several languages. Not all of them from Earth.

"Mind me to stop letting him guard the linguists on base." John whispered to Dara, who nodded, then frowned.

"What am I, your receptionist?" She demanded, standing straighter and missed the bullet that was going for her side.

"TAKE COVER!" John yelled and threw at Dara as a hail of bullets swarmed past them, his longer body completely covering hers.

He glanced down at her and used his elbows to lift himself off of her slightly. "Are you alright?"

"Little winded." She replied, moving a hand to rub her chest where Sheppard had landed on her. Then she glared at him.

"Its my side arm, I swear." He replied, grinning as she brought his side arm up for him to see. "Ahh, well..."

"Just get off of me!" She demanded and flipped on the spot, worm crawling to the safety of a tree and took cover before assessing the situation. "We've got about six Wraith with machine guns, two with stunners, surrounding us."

"Where is everyone else?" John barked.

"Ronon is covering Kimberley and Iero, Teyla is covering Rodney and our six." Dara replied, doing a tuck roll and shooting a wraith that was beginning to advance on John.

"Thanks." John nodded to her.

"You're welcome." She nodded back.

"So how we getting out of this one?" He asked, preparing his 9 mill.

"Same way you do all the time, perseverance, determination." She jumped up and shot a wraiths square between the eyes as he rounded a tree. "And sheer dumb luck."  
o0o  
Richard Woolsey stared at the gate, then the notes that lay in front of his as he waited for teams one, two, fifteen plus guests to return. 'Hopefully in one piece. I am beginning to seriously re-think the benefits of sending Kimberley off world.'

As the gate began to dial in he prayed that everyone was alright and had all limbs attached.

Team fifteens IDC was sent through the gate and he looked around the consol, trying to figure out the right button to accept the IDC and let the shield down when Amelia came back from her break and pressed the correct button.

"Thank you." He nodded to her and glanced for the tannoy button, pressing it milliseconds before she did. "Medical team to the gate room, I repeat medical team to the gate room."

Within the minute the three teams and two extra personnel had exited the gate, causing Woolsey to panic at the prone form of Kimberley.

Quickly he made his way down the steps and paused beside them as the medical team arrived.

Carson felt his breath catch in her throat.

"Is-is she alive?" Woolsey asked, unsure how to continue.

Dara nodded. "Nate was trying to feed on her, but it didn't work. I think she bumped her head when she fell. She's been unconscious for about twenty minutes."

Jennifer arrived as Dara finished speaking. "Get her onto the gurney. Carson, take Ronon and look over his bullet wounds. Everyone else get your butts into the infirmary and wait to be checked over before leaving."

Everyone nodded. Ronon and John bent down to help the medical nurses get Kimberley onto a gurney, Ronon wincing as she grabbed his right hand, the one that had just missed a bouncing bullet, and squeezed.

Jennifer gently got them untangled before they rushed away, leaving John, Dara, Teyla, Rodney, Woolsey and teams two and fifteen standing there.

"Okay, that's it." Dara decided. "Kimberley is no longer allowed to go off world with team one. Every time she does she gets injured."

"Its an occupational hazard." John shrugged. "and she isn't that bad off world. With a little more work she could probably have a permanent place on one of the teams."

Dara glanced at the direction that the unconscious girl went in and raised an eyebrow.  
o0o  
Several hours later, with Kimberley still unconscious and attached to every piece of machinery in the infirmary, Dara donned on a black top, black jeans and her converse. With her hair in a tight plait she used a transporter to get to the gate room.

After making sure no one was about apart from the skeleton night shift Dara grabbed the lock pick kit that Ronon had showed her one day while they were captured by an angry priestess and quickly got the door open.

Silently she entered the office and made her way to the computer, booting it up before guessing at Woolsey's password, freezing as the light was flicked on.

"Would you care to explain why you have broken into my office in the middle of the night?" Woolsey asked, arms straight at the side of his oxford house coat.

Dara was too busy staring at his bunny slippers to notice John slipping in behind the head of the expedition.

"Miss Baldwin!" Woolsey raised his voice slightly.

"Sorry sir." Dara replied, then sighed and flopped back on to the chair behind the desk. "But I was going to change the schedule for Kimberley and I's off world missions."

"Why?" Woolsey moved to the computer and brought up the file.

"Every time Kimberley goes off world with Johns team, she ends up injured." Dara pointed out.

Woolsey sighed. "Not every time-"

"The last two months alone she has came back with a hair line fracture of her right arm, more twisted ankles than the infirmary is used to, at least eight mild concussions, two severe ones and lets not forget the mission where she had third degree burns." Dara pointed out. "I'm not saying take her off all off world missions."

"I would." John added.

Dara turned around to glare at him before turning to look pleadingly at Woolsey. "Send her with Mack, or Cole, or Stackhouse. He'll send her off world with the linguist team, just not with the first team, please."

Woolsey nodded. "I will take your argument into consideration." 'No need to tell her that was what I was trying to do...'


	52. Mrs Dex

Doctor Jennifer Keller glanced at the machine in front of her. "Are you sure this will work?"

Linguist Laura Cadman nodded. "If my translations are correct, which they are, then this device will make it that the two never met."

"Why would the ancients create such a thing?" Jennifer wondered.

"Maybe it was to keep ethical people apart, or for the same reason you are using it." Laura shrugged. "Do you really want to know or just use it?"

"Use it." Jennifer smirked evilly. "So, all I need to do is press the button with the individuals bloods in the drum?"

Laura nodded.

"Alright then." Jennifer placed two vials of blood into two of the eight slots and pressed the button. "Goodbye Mrs Dex."  
o0o  
As Kimberley walked around the corner of the corridor, the white lab jacket she had on swished behind her in an invisible wind. Reading from a data pad, she let her feet take her automatically to Carson's station in the infirmary, stopping just before the doors.

Locking the data pad Kimberley lifted her head up and tucked the pad under one arm, using her other hand to open the back door to the infirmary. Her eyes scanned for Carson and lit up at the sight of her husband sitting on a bed.

"Ro!" She shouted and rush to him, hugging him for all she was worth. "When did you get back?"

"Ten minutes ago." John informed her from another bed. "We're almost finished the post-mission checks."

"Do any of you want to talk about your mission or anything else?" Kimberley asked, one of Ronons arms around her torso, holding her close to him.

"I know I want to do something else." He breathed into her, causing her to giggle and blush.

"Naa, it was a simple meet and greet. No one was shot at, tortured or made to do anything they didn't want to." John smiled.

"Except put up with McKay." Ronon grumbled.

"Oh you love him really." Kimberley looked up at the Sedetan and smiled. "Do you want to meet me in the mess hall after this?"

"Actually Kimberley, could you keep him here fur a few mare minutes?" Carsons Scottish voice asked. "I need tae take sum blud samples."

"Sure thing Car." Kimberley nodded and poked Ronon on the side. "Budge up mister."

Ronon raised an eye brown and patted his knees.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly.

With a grin, the male moved over, grin growing as Kimberley sat down and kissed him on the cheek once more.

"Remember to keep it PG-13!" John shouted at them.

"If not, draw a curtain." Jennifer Keller joked as she appeared beside Ronon. "Can I have your arm please?"

Ronon shrugged his shoulders.

"Please?" Jennifer asked again and smiled at the Sedetan.

Ronon nodded and lifted his arm.

"How are you Jen?" Kimberley asked the doctor, watching as the medic moved with ease to find Ronons vein and tapped it, making it pop up, before wiping his arm with an antiseptic wipe, then lined up the needle.

"Pretty good, yourself?" Jennifer replied, glancing between Kimberley's smiling face and the bag of blood collecting Ronons red and white blood cells.

"Can't complain." She returned.

"Yes you do." Ronon whispered to her.

"Aye, but nobody needs to know that." Kimberley whispered back to him.

"Medical complaints or Rodney style complaints?" Carson asked as he stepped back into their little area.

"Just some headaches." Kimberley responded, glaring at the two men as they carried out a silent conversation between the two. "I don't need anything, I'm fine."

"Are you sure about that?" Carson asked and motioned for Doctor Keller. "Why don't you go over to one of the beds and chat with Doctor Keller?"

Kimberley rolled her eyes at him but nodded. 'Resistance IS futile.'

"I'll finish here hen." Carson smiled to Jennifer and they swapped places, the doctor taking off her gloves and washing her hands before motioning to Kimberley to come into her office.

The noise of outsides hustle and bustle was cut off as the doctor closed the door. The atmosphere changed from calm and happy, to one of dread.

Kimberley held back a sigh as Jennifer sat on her chair and glared at her. "How long have you had these headaches for?"

"A few weeks." Kimberley looked for somewhere to sit down but finding none, she leaned against the wall.

"Do you want drugs?" Jennifer pulled over her prescription pad and began writing on it.

"Can you give me co-drydamol?" Kimberley asked.

"They're that bad?" Jennifer looked up, worry on her face. "Maybe you're doing too much?"

The younger female shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm actually doing less than before, which is strange."

"Maybe you need to leave Atlantis?" Jennifer grinned inwardly. 'And give me a chance at getting Ronon!'

"I don't know that new psychologist Melvin hasn't been too, what's the word, receptive to the marines." Kimberley frowned. "If he keeps this up he's going to get beaten up."

"As your doctor I am recommending you to take two weeks off. Relax, chill." Jennifer grinned. 'And stay the hell away from here.'

"Can I take it off world?" Kimberley asked.

"No." Jennifer shook her head. "You have to go back home, to Earth. Visit your family; reconnect with people you haven't seen. All your problems could be linked to a local stressor."

Kimberley thought about it then nodded. "I'll speak to Mister Woolsey in the morning."

Before Jennifer could reply her door was knocked and Ronon stuck his head in. "I'm hungry, you ready?"

Kimberley looked at Jennifer who just smiled. "Pick them up later okay?"

The youngest of the two nodded and left with Ronon, taking his hand and kissing him on the cheek.

Jennifer watched them leave, a burning hatred filling her heart as Kimberley said something that made Ronons laughter boom around the cold infirmary walls, echoing in her own ears.  
o0o  
In the mess hall Kimberley grabbed a seat as Ronon gathered their food, returning minutes later with his offerings.

"Careful, I'm beginning to get spoiled." She teased him for the salad, eyeing his steak.

"Remember you're meeting Beckett tomorrow." Ronon reminded her and moved his plate away.

"I know; I know." She sighed and stabbed her fork into the lettuce, chewing glumly.

"Hey you're the one that wants to give your plates again." Ronon pointed out.

"Platelets." She replied around the green stuff. "And they're important."

Ronon just grinned at her, and she bumped his shoulder with hers. "How about we finish dinner quickly, I've got something else to show you that's important."

"Hmm...I dunno, this salad is realllllly tasty." She replied, placing her hand under her head.

"I know something else that's tasty." He whispered to her ear and she blushed and giggled nervously.

"Hehehe, okay." Kimberley agreed and they left the room, a few of the regular personnel watching them go with similes in their faces.  
o0o  
After a few days the headaches hadn't let up, or lessened, so Kimberley returned to the infirmary.

"There could be another reason for your headaches." Carson began.

"Okay." Kimberley nodded to him. "What?"

"Well, you see hen, you could be pulling a Greggs." He coded replied.

"Wraith clone say what now?" Kimberley was confused as hell, as per the norm of Atlantis.

"You could be pregnant." Explained the medical professional.

"Scottish quacko say what now?" Kimberley demanded as spots danced in her eyes and she fainted.

Carson waited for a few minutes and thanked the lord when she started coming round. "You okay hen?"

"I think I just had an episode." Kimberley shook her head and looked at him. "I thought you said I could be pregnant."

Carson nodded.

"Oh boy." Kimberley gulped. She glanced around the infirmary and her eyes stopped on the machinery. "Is there any tests you can do here?"

Carson shook his head. "The IOA didn't include pregnancy testing kits or sonograms as part of our supplies."

Suddenly his face brightened.

Kimberley pulled a face. "You just got an idea, didn't you?"  
o0o  
"So...you're going to Earth?" Ronon asked her later that day, suddenly pushing the contents of his plate around.

"Yeah, Car and Jen think it's a good idea, might help my headaches." Kimberley bobbed her head and looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied almost instantly. "Just remembered I was supposed to meet Sheppard."

Kimberley stood with him and grabbed him for a hug, frowning, as he didn't return the physical affection. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Ronon nodded and left.  
o0o  
Kimberley lay on her side in darkness, waiting for Ronon to come into their quarters. The door opened and her eyes flew to the clock, frowning at the time.

Ronons side of the bed was weighed down with his weight and she heard him sigh before pulling off his clothes.

As she listened to him lie down on top of the covers, she debated whether or not to turn in her 'sleep' and hug him.

But dropped it all when he turned away from her, sleeping on his right side, his back to her.

Her thoughts froze as a tear fell from her eyes, panic beginning to fill her. 'I can't tell him I think I'm pregnant. If he stays it will only be for them, not because he loves me. Oh God what am I going to do?'  
o0o  
John glanced at Ronon and nodded to Rodney, who broke off with Teyla and Kavanaugh to look at the ruins. Carson stepped from behind them to be closer to talk with them.

"So...how are things with you and Kimberley?" John asked.

"Fine." Ronon replied.

"You don't seem excited." Carson added.

Ronon shot the medical doctor a glare. "She wants to go back home, what about that should make me excited?"

John and Carson shared a look. John spoke first. "She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Ronon demanded.

Carson looked at John, who shrugged. "As her medical doctor, I can't say a word."

"As her medical proxy, I can." John grinned and slugged Ronon on the arm. "Doc here thinks she's pregnant."

THUNK.

"What is it with those two and fainting?" Carson muttered to himself.  
o0o  
Ronon turned the corridor corner, stomach leading him towards the mess hall. His thoughts turned from what the smells from the food in the mess hall that were assaulting his nostrils to his latest training session with the girls.

'They're both improving.' He nodded his head slightly. 'Kimberley is more abstract and in your face full frontal assault, which is strange compared to Daras sneaky going for the gonad style.'

Ronon winced as he thought of the poor petty officer who was Daras sparring partner, and then spared a thought to his aching wrist, rubbing it gently before wincing. Glancing down he frowned at the bruise already forming. 'How the hell did that happen?'

"Ro!" A familiar voice shouted and he turned around, doing a double take at Kimberley wearing a white lab coat. "There you are, I thought we were meeting in the mess hall half an hour ago?"

Ronon looked at her as if she had grown a Rodney head on her shoulder.

"Cat got your tongue?" She asked and smiled, dropping it as she noticed his wrist. "Oh my God what happened!"

Quickly she picked it up and ran her hands lightly over it. Ronon shivered with the energy dancing between their hands.

"Go get to Doctor Beckett right now mister! No more sparring till you get that looked at." She mother hened him. "I'm curious, who got the better of you?"

"It was you, in the sparring room." He finally found his voice and stopped them walking.

"I've been banned from the sparring room or even thinking about said room since we found out I was pregnant." Kimberley looked at him confused. "Have a seat Ronon and I'll go get Doctor Beckett."

Ronon did not sit down but stood still, her words ticking over in his head. He didn't even notice as she placed her hand on his forehead.

What he did notice, was when she kissed him on the lips and smiled before rushing down the corridor.

Ronon stood there for several minutes before blinking. 'Is anyone else freaked out apart from me?'  
o0o  
After gathering his wits Ronon made his was urgently to the infirmary, where he knew Kimberley usually hung around this time of the morning, and burst through the door. As he panted from the run he scanned the room and growled as he spotted his pray, stalking towards her, not caring for the looks everyone was giving him.

"Who's the father?" Ronon asked Kimberley, who blinked.

"Huh?" She asked.

"In the hall, you told me you were pregnant – what do you think you were doing training in your condition?" He demanded.

"Pregnant?" Carson squeaked, mind filling with babies, booties, diapers and a mini him and Kimberley.

"I don't! I'm not!" Kimberley shook her head.

"You just told me in the hall." Ronon stated.

Kimberley frowned. "I've been in the infirmary since leaving you in the training room."

"Are you sure it was Kimberley?" Carson asked.

Ronon looked at the confused female and compared her with the image of the women from his memory. After a silence, he shook his head. "Maybe it wasn't."  
o0o  
"How's your hand Ro?" Kimberley asked as she sat down at the groups table.

'Ro?' John mouthed to Ronon who looked at her strangely.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and her right hand went under the table, bringing up both Ronons hand and Johns eyebrows. She looked over his hand and nodded. "It's healing nicely. Hey John, how are you?"

"I'm good, yourself?" He asked and scanned her, noting how different she looked from earlier. "Where did you get the coat?"

She frowned. "Eh, John, you got it for me for Christmas last year, because every other Doctor had a lab coat but me. Are you feeling okay?"

John frowned, and then shook his head. "Sorry, brain skipped a week."

"Remember my office is always open." Kimberley smiled, her thumb brushing over Ronons hand. Her eyes went to her watch and she frowned. "Crap, gotta go, I'm supposed to save Mel from the marines."

"Mel?" John asked.

"Mel, Melvin, Doctor Baxter?" Kimberley continued to look at him as if he had lost a few marbles. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, sure, fine, you?" He asked and frowned as she stood up, only to bent down and kiss Ronons cheek.

"See you later Ro." She whispered, her hand trailing up his arm.

"What just happened?" John asked.

"You saw that too, right?" Ronon double-checked.  
o0o  
_Ronon smiled in his dream as Melerna smiled shyly at him, crawling over the bed to hug him. "Have I ever showed you how much I love you Mr Dex?"_

_He shook his head and grinned as she smiled shyly before kissing him softly._

_Ronon returned the kiss and opened his mouth, flipping Melerna on her back and leant up slightly so he wasn't crushing her._

_His lips left hers and began trailing kisses down her neck, causing her to moan and arch her back. "Ro!"_

Ronons eyes snapped open, widening at the sight of Kimberley underneath him. "Gah!"

Kimberley sat up as Ronon scrambled backwards and fell off the bed, standing up and looking at her before grabbing his sheet, covering his body. "Ro, what's wrong?"

Slowly Ronon got dressed, not taking his eyes off her.

Kimberley watched him and tried to keep from blinking but did so, frowning as he reached over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her from the bed. "Ro! What are you doing? Ro!"

Kimberley clawed at his hand, dragging her feet as he dragged her towards the infirmary. Her eyes flew from his calmly enraged face to his grip on her hand. "Ro, you're scarring me – RONON STOP!"

Her scream brought several personnel running to her.

"Ronon, what are you doing to Kimberley?" Woolsey began, motioning for someone to contact John.

"Kimberley was in my bed." Ronon explained and let go of her wrist.

Kimberley gingerly rubbed her wrist, tears forming. "Are you alright Ro? You've been acting weird all week."

"I'm not acting weird, you are!" Ronons voice showed his agitation.

"Ro-"

"Don't call me Ro!" Ronon shouted, taking a step forward.

Kimberley stepped back before gulping and stepped forward. "You never complained about it before."

"You only started calling me it when you started kissing me." He pointed a finger at her, turning to look at Carson. "I didn't kiss her, she kissed me."

"And how did I get pregnant, fall onto your dick?" She raised an eyebrow.

John and Dara arrived at the end of her snark. Dara frowned at her friend. "Wasn't your hair curly ten minutes ago?"

"Who the hell are you?" Kimberley demanded, and noticed their joined hands. "Does Teyla know you're cheating on her with this strumpet?"

Dara just stared at her. "This what now?"

"A tart, slut, two bit night walker, hussy; need I go on miss lets shag the man whose about to have twins." Kimberley sneered.

Dara blinked. "Is she really pregnant?"

"Yes." "No."

Kimberley and Carson shared a glare with each other.

"Can I hit her?" Dara asked.

"No." "Bring it showty."

Everyone looked at Kimberley.

Evan stepped forward. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Evan-EVAN!" Kimberley dismissed, then yelled, stumbling backwards to get away from him. "Oh no, I'm pulling a McKay again."

"Huh?" Evan asked and looked at Kimberley. "What's wrong."

"You're dead." Her eyes began to tear up. Realization dawned on her. "I'm in an alternate timeline!"

"REALITY!" Several voices shouted.

"Wait a minute." John demanded. "Twins?"

Dara rolled her eyes and whacked him in the stomach. "Upper brain Sheppard."

"No, I mean timeline." Kimberley responded, grasping behind her for a seat.

"What makes you say that?" John asked before anyone could stop him.

"As far as I can see there are main fixed points that are part of my causality; meeting this uh, girl here, Evan dieing with the exploding tumor and myself and Ro-non, getting together." Kimberley explained.

"That actually made sense." John blinked.

"Well I don't have a doctorate for nothing you know." Kimberley rolled her eyes.

"That's another difference." Dara pointed out.

"Who are you anyway?" Kimberley asked.

"Oh, I'm Dara." Dara nodded to her.

"Dara...wait, does the name, LadyDarkHope mean anything to you?" Kimberley slowly asked.

"Yeah, it was my pen name on ." Dara nodded.

"Stay away from me." Kimberley was on alert. "I didn't fall for it last time and I'm not falling for it now."

"Wait, what?" Dara asked.

Kimberley glared at her. "We were supposed to meet at the airport the same day I bumped into the gang from Atlantis, but instead there was this freaky nerdy guy with a beer belly and my name on a board waiting for me."

"What?" Dara demanded. 'We spoke of that being a possibility, but it actually happening?'

The group looked at one another.

"So, how am I here, and where is your Kimberley?" Kimberley finally asked.

"Probably sleeping." Dara joked. "And its probably an ancient device."

"Has there been any unusual energy signatures within the last week?" Kimberley questioned.

"John this is Rodney, an energy signal has just spiked in the south west medical labs." Rodneys voice called over the radios.

"Well ain't that just a coinkidink." John raised an eye brow.

"Anyone else a little suspicious?" Dara asked and raised an eye brow as Ronon and Kimberley nodded.

The two looked at each other and Kimberley smiled at the Sedetan, tears quickly pooling in her eyes. "I better get home. I miss my big lug."  
o0o  
As the group assembled at the device that had been giving off weird energy signals when ever Alternate Kimberley was in the room, they noticed her double over.

"You okay?" Dara asked.

"Yeah, fine." Kimberley looked at her stomach with a face of awe. "The baby's kicking."

Ronon and Carson both had mixed faces on.

'She's pregnant, but she's not my Kimberley.' Carson thought to himself, a little sad at that fact.

Ronon for the fact that he was fathering a child with Kimberley. 'At least the Sedetan line doesn't end with just me in that reality.'

Kimberley sucked in a breath and grabbed Johns hand, holding it to her stomach. "You feel that?"

"Yeah. Wow." John looked at his hand, then at Kimberley, and coughed, bringing his hand back. "We should get you home, don't know how many babies this lot have delivered."

"So how do we deactivate the machine?" Dara asked, moving to get a closer look at the machine.

"When Kimberley gets back to her reality, she just turns it off from there." Rodney tells them.

They turn to him.

"That's it?" Kimberley asks, raising an eye brow.

"That's it." He agreed.

"What, no taking it to the south pier and dropping it into an active super nova at midnight?" She asked.

"What? No!" Rodney shook his head. "Sometimes these devices are really simple."

"If you say so buddy." John turned to Kimberley. "Well stay safe when you get over there."

"You too John." Kimberley felt tears well up in her eyes and she moved to hug him. "And stay away from pecan pie."

"Pecan pie? Wait, what?" He asked as she suddenly fazed out of existence, blinking at their Kimberley as she waved to them, then backed away from Ronon.

"He's not gonna try and kiss me again, is he?" She asked.

"Welcome back Kimberley." Ronon stepped forward and hugged her. "And I'm not going to kiss you if you don't kiss me."

"Uh, deal." She agreed, freeing herself and stuck her hand between them, shaking his hand tightly. "So...what'd I miss?"  
o0o  
"And you never noticed?" She asked her Ronon.

He shrugged. "You're you. You still have off days."

"Ro!" She moaned and punched his shoulder.

The married couple looked at each other before Ronon grabbed Kimberley for a hug, kissing the top of her head.

"Is there a specific reason why you want to go back to Earth?" Ronon finally asked.

"Apart from Jennifer suggesting it?" She shook her head. "I'd rather be here with you."

"Wait, Jennifer suggested it?" He asked.

Kimberley nodded.

"She said it was your idea." Ronon explained.

"I hate going back to Earth, everyone knows that. The only reason I go back is if something's up with my family or I need to hide from the IOA." Kimberley reminded him. "Why would I volunteer to go back?"

Ronon shrugged.

"And why the hell did you believe her?" She demanded, hands on her hips. "You know she didn't like me! I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one that sent me to that Alternate Atlantis! And, hello, have you ever heard of communicating with me? How hard would it have been to just, oh I dunno, ask me, or talking to me about why I was going back to my reality?"

"Thats not fair." Ronon pointed out.

"Well its the truth!" Kimberley glowered at him. "Wait, what's not fair?"

"When you get angry you talk with more of an accent." He smirked at her. "I can't understand a word you are saying, and its cute as hell."

"I'm still annoyed at you." Kimberley pointed out.

"I'm still annoying." Ronon grinned and gathered her for a hug. "But you love me."

"Yeah, yeah I do." She smiled, looking up at him. Then frowned. "And if you even think about getting off the couch and into bed for at least a month mister you are seriously needing to spend less time with John."  
o0o  
Ronon, Rodney and John sat on the pier, a beer in each of their hands.

Rodney muttered something about the bathroom and stood up, teetering close to the edge before righting himself and going into the tower to use the little scientist room.

John and Ronon looked at the nights sky, watching the starts float in space, a few of them shooting out of existence.

"Did you ever think about it, even for just one second?" John asked.

Ronon paused, his beer halfway up to his mouth. "What?"

"Kissing Kimberley." John took a swig of his beer.

"No." Ronon downed the neck of his beer. "Would you?"

"Kimberley ain't my type." John shook his head. "She's more like-"

"-a little sister." Ronon shared.

"God no!" John replied. 'I would have put my self up for adoption!' "More like a little cousin. The one that hangs about and your aint tells you to look after even though you're supposed to go to a really big party."

"If you say so." Ronon shrugged and chugged his beer.

John glanced at him and shook his head, laughing to himself.


	53. Strange Realities

Kimberley walked through the hallway and grinned to herself. 'Only a few more days till we go home!'

As the thoughts began to bounce around her head Kimberley giggled, moving from one end of Atlantis to another willy nilly as she pressed random buttons on the transporter.

Unseeing to her a bright light struck the secret base as she pressed the transporter, smiling to Chuck as she exited the ancient elevator like device. "Hey Chuck, is Woolsey in?"

Chuck nodded.

"Anyone with him?" She asked, not noting the look of fear and confusion swimming across his face.

Chuck shook his head.

"Cool!" Kimberley walked past him. "Hold his calls eh?"

Chuck nodded mutely, then reached for the ear piece lying on his consol, calling for marine back up and the medical personnel to get their butts up there pronto.  
o0o  
Richard Woolsey looked up as his door was knocked, and Kimberley entered the room with confidence, closing the door and crossed the room, taking a seat in front of him. "Miss Boyce, what can I help you with?"

Kimberley spoke slowly. "Dara and I want to go back to our Earth and have a baby together, and we need your permission to come back in ten months."

Woolsey stared at her. "Wait one moment."  
o0o  
Kimberley glared at Carson as he poked her with yet another instrument. "Honestly Beckett, stop poking me with your bits, okay."

"Uh..." Carson stepped backwards at both her tone and glare.

Baxter entered the infirmary at that point and frowned. "Has she said much of anything else?"

"No, she just want to see Dara." Carson replied, watching Kimberley watch him distrustfully. 'What the hell is wrong with her?'

Dara chose that moment to walk into the infirmary with the first team. "Hey, what's up?"

"Dara!" Kimberley yelled happily, flying from the bed to run to Dara, grasping her around the arm. "Oh my God your forehead is cut!"

"Its okay I-" Dara paused as Kimberley brushed a hand over the cut gently, the touch seemingly a little too caressing. "What are you-?"

John paused in his talking with Jennifer as Kimberley leant forward and captured her lips. 'What is she doing to my girlfriend?'

It was like a train crash, no one could look away from the image of Kimberley kissing Dara.

Carson stared at his girlfriend and her best friend, and suddenly wondered if something was going on.

Teyla observed her friends behaviour and frowned; this was not like the bubbly girl.

Ronon frowned as Kimberley grabbed Dara, then his jaw dropped at her forcefulness.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Rodney exclaimed as he entered the room.

In the milliseconds that Kimberley had been kissing Dara something connected in the older females brain and she tore her lips from her, pushing the other female towards the middle of the room and backed away from her. She kept her hands in front of her. "What the hell!"

Kimberley looked hurt. Her lip trembled before she nodded and cast a suspicious glare at Jennifer, who involuntarily took a step back from the glare, and tore from the room.

"What the HELL just happened?" Dara glared at everyone in the room. "Apart from the last thirty seconds. I leave Atlantis three days ago and come back to my friend making passes at me, passes so obvious you would need to be both male and blind not to notice!"

"She was fine up until she went for her walk an hour ago." Carson was the only one that could answer.

"Then figure out what the hell went on in that last hour! I'm going to burn my lips off."

"If you want I can kiss it better?" John offered, falling in step with her.

"No! No kissing!" Dara threw her hands up in disgust.

"Oh, so Boyce can kiss you like that..." John trailed off.

Dara threw a glare at him so hard he stumbled backwards. "Finish that thought Sheppard and the only action you'll be seeing is from the gate room wall!"

"So I can watch?" He asked, clutching his arm as she smacked it. "Ow!"  
o0o  
Radek looked around the lab room that he was sure he heard angry muttering and metal clanking from. Entering deeper he frowned at the sight of someone messing about with one of the half finished ancient devices. "Hello?"

"Hello Radek." Kimberleys voice called from the darkness, and he flipped on the light, frowning at the site of Kimberley sitting at the welding station with a red and blotchy face.

"Have you been crying?" He demanded, moving to stand beside her.

"What do you care." She sniffed, resuming her work of piecing separate parts of machinery together. "And what are you talking to me for? You said you never wanted to speak to me again."

"I did? When?" Radek was confused.

Kimberley rolled her eyes and turned from him on the chair.

Radek raised an eye brow and turned the chair towards him.

She turned around again.

"We can do this all day or you can tell me who is bothering you so I can make them stop breathing." Radek demanded.

"What do you care for?" Kimberley stood up angrily. "You never wanted to have anything to do with the lesbo freak before?"

"The what-what?" Radek blinked rapidly.

"Lesbicka rozmar." Kimberley replied.

"Ah, but, are you not with Doctor Beckett?" Radek was trying to remember the last of the gossip from the Atlantis grapevine.

"Beckett?" Kimberley laughed, then covered her mouth. "Why would I be with Beckett? He's with Teyla."

Radek snapped his fingers in her face to bring her back to the room.

"I do not know what is going on, but I do support you in any life choice that you decide to make, as long as you are happy." Radek told her, then gave her a side long glace. "As long as you do not fall for a Wraith."

"You mean that?" Kimberley asked him, suspicion slowly fading from her eyes.

"Yes." Radek nodded and held a hand out to her. "I have a feeling that you are not in your own reality."

"Not again." Kimberley groaned.

"This has happened before?" Radek blinked.

Kimberley nodded. "A few weeks ago an alternate version of myself came through a device."

Radek shook his head. "I don't think it was anyone from this reality."

"So there is no connection between the two then." Kimberley sighed.

"Shall we meet with everyone and try to figure this out?" Radek offered.

Kimberley eyed him dubiously, then nodded, taking his hand and left the lab room.

Returning seconds later to turn off the gas. "Whoops."  
o0o  
The gang had assembled in the briefing room. Radek sat beside Kimberley, who eyed Carson strangely. Dara sat as far away from Kimberley as she could, and John sat between his freaked out girlfriend and Teyla and Ronon. Woolsey sat in between them all.

Rodney entered the room muttering to himself. "There was a localized ionized storm, that hit the transporters of the city."

"How do you know that?" Kimberley asked, following him as he stalked up and down the length of the room.

Rodney looked at Kimberley like seeing her for the first time. "From the list of dates for solar flares and storm information we received through a data burst a few months ago."

"What was the point of origin?" Kimberley asked.

John looked at her oddly. Kimberley threw up a 'bring it on' pose, causing John to look at her oddly for another reason. "You mean to tell me your trusting the word from an unknown source about when and where solar flares are going to occur?"

"No. We checked them out." John replied, then turned to look at Rodney. "We did check them out, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Everyone could see Rodney adding it to his mental to do list.

"There is one in ten minutes." Radek explained as he read the list.

Everyone looked at him, then the silently brooding Kimberley, then they began to make their way to the transporters.

They spent a few minutes killing time by chatting with one another, then Radek pointed out there was forty seconds remaining.

Kimberley waved goodbye to everyone, then stepped slowly towards Dara.

"Ah." Dara held a hand up to stop Kimberley going in for the kill. "The farthest I will let you is the cheek."

"You are so unlike my Dara." Kimberley grinned and hugged the female before hopping into the transporter, waving to them as she pressed the central command button.

There was a flash of light, then the doors slid open to reveal a dazed and half sleeping Kimberley on the floor.  
o0o  
Everyone was gathered around the infirmary, in one bed in particular.

"What were you using a transporter for?" Carson asked, flashing a pen light in her eyes.

"I was looking for a bathroom." Kimberley replied.

Dara and Carson looked to one another, before the female diagnosed her problem. 'Crazy.' "Concussion."


	54. 43 and 45

John blinked in the morning sun, wondering how he had managed to doze off while off world.

A small chatter to his left got his attention causing John to frown.

With a silent stretch John moved to grab his TAC vest, slinging it on and grabbed his gun from the leaf covered floor before walking in the direction of the noise.

Ronon smirked to Kimberley as she blushed, laughing loudly as her head was thrust into her hands.

"Shut up!" She cried, shaking her head in annoyance.

Teyla smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry Kimberley, I am sure we can get them back for this later."

"Really?" Kimberley lifted her head to look at Teyla, who nodded.

'Great.' Rodney rolled his eyes and stirred the eggs in the pot, then began grumbling to himself. "Why am I the one cooking?"

"Because someone has to keep Boyce out of trouble." John heard himself say before wincing internally.

Kimberley stopped acting shy and shook her head, looking away from the group. "I'm going to go check the dimat-err, the perimeter."

"Boyce- damn it." John muttered to himself, turning to look at his group who-with the exception of Rodney-were giving him looks. "What?"

"Thought you were going to try harder with Boyce?" Ronon shrugged.

John frowned deeper. "I'm trying its just, she...she's a lot harder to deal with than anyone else, alright?"

"If you say so John." Teyla nodded, passing Rodney four plates.

John looked puzzled. "Why only four plates?"

"Only four of us eating." Ronon replied.

"Whose-" John stopped as Teyla passed a plate to him, then one to Ronon.

Sitting down on a tree stump he observed Teyla taking one of the plates before Rodney grabbed the last one.

As they ate in silence, John allowed his mind to wander, thinking over their mission for the day ("observe the gate activity of the planet, see if it can be used as a second base of operations") and then thought of what he was going to do when he got home that night.

"Thinking about Dara again?" Ronons voice brought him back to Earth (sort of).

John shook his head. "Just thinking about what I'm going to put into the report for Woolsey."

"There has been no gate travel for several months on this planet." Teyla supplied.

"The DHD control crystal shows its hardly used." Rodney replied around the eggs in his mouth.

John opened his mouth to say something when everyone paused, looking towards the patch of shrubbery which was rustling.

Within seconds everyone had grabbed their weapons and had it trained on the flora, waiting for something to happen.

Kimberley burst through the shrubbery, face pale despite running for more than a mile. "Guys...we...gotta...get...outta...here!"

"Where's the fire?" John demanded.

"Hive!" She rasped, grabbing Rodney by his shirt and hauled him to their tents. "Gotta...rush!"

"And you're sure?" John asked.

Kimberley stopped dragging Rodney and glared back at him. "Would...I have...given my...self...a near...asthma attack...for a...joke?"

"Well..." John trailed off as Kimberleys glare intensified.

"All packed." Ronon called out, getting Johns attention.

'How did he pack so fast?' John wondered, looking at where the two tents and various equipment were back in their holders.

"Come on!" Kimberley urged, turning to grab his arm. "Wraith Hive ship click 'n' a half away!"

Without another word, John grabbed a few of the bags and began heading towards the gate.

Within minutes they had arrived at the gate. John paused as Rodney halted at the DHD, entering the base's gate address.

Ronon was observing the area, Teyla checking out the other side.

John observed them and slowly brought his P90 up, a bad feeling rising in his gut. "Did you see what kind of Wraith it was?"

Kimberley shook her head, then turned around sharply, moving to the left, her back to him as she spoke. "No, but it kinda looked like hy-"

A single shot echoed as the gate connected, its whoosh drowning out the sound of Johns face and body being coated in Kimberleys blood. "BOYCE!"

"Shot through the shoulder." Teyla informed them as she grabbed the still female, glancing over to Rodney who looked at them in horror. "Rodney, help me."

"This is Sheppard, we're coming in hot with one injury, bullet wound." John spoke to his earpiece, glancing around with paranoia.

"Shield is down and medical team will be here soon." Chuck answered quickly.

"Lets move!" John called out, grabbing Kimberleys bag as they moved to enter the gate and travel back home from a peaceful mission gone wrong (again.)

Kimberley glanced around the infirmary and groaned. 'Not again.'

"Hey." Daras voice came from the left.

"Hey." Kimberley replied, then flinched as Dara thwacked her non sore arm. "Ow!"

"How the hell do you manage to get into these scrapes?" Dara demanded, settling back on the chair.

"What happened?" Kimberley blinked, the pain beginning to diminish.

Dara glared. "Don't you remember?"

"...then she came back and told us there was a Wraith Hive ship about a click and a half away." John continued his verbal report as one of the nurses gave him a quick scrub down, trying to remove as much blood as possible as quickly as possible.

"We packed up and headed for the gate." Ronon added.

"Once the gate established, Kimberley was shot." Rodney replied, munching on a power bar, his face still pale.

"Okay, I have to go get a shower." John interrupted everyone. "I'll go to the briefing room for a debrief soon, but I'm covered in Boyces blood."

Woolsey nodded and allowed him to leave with a nurse.

"Can I leave too?" Rodney asked.

"Is that everything?" Woolsey ignored him and asked.

"No." Teyla shook her head. "Just before the gate connected, Kimberley lifted her head up and moved position. She was originally a few feet to the left of Col. Sheppard, but ended up directly in front of him and was shot."

"So she took the bullet for him." Ronon summarised.

Rodney winced. "No ones going to like that."

Woolsey looked at him sharply. "What do you mean Doctor McKay?"

"Well, John won't like the fact she took a bullet, Dara won't like the fact she got herself hurt, Carson is going to be annoyed that she put herself into that situation." Rodney paused, then continued. "Ronon is probably annoyed that she didn't move fast enough, or give warning."

"I...see..." Woolsey trailed off. Slowly he capped his pen. "We'll reconvene in an hour in the main debriefing room."

'Ugh, Boyce cooties.' John thought to himself as he entered his room, peeling off his clothes and dropping them in the bin. Even though they had been given a quick but thorough medical scrub, John headed straight for the shower.

Twenty minutes later, John emerged from the slightly steamy room and sighed in contentment. 'Not bad day, managed to avoid a party from Boyce, Dara hasn't killed me for her injury yet...and my ear piece is going on, crap.' "Col. Sheppard."

"Col, there is a situation." Chuck spoke calmly through the microphone.

"What kind of situation?" John demanded as he continued looking through his room for his clothes.

"Boyce is err, trying to use the transporters." Chuck replied.

"I'm on my way." John ended the call, then looked around the room. "Just as soon as I find some clothes."

Dropping to the ground he looked under his bed and grasped at what was there. After shaking off a dust bunny or twelve, he found a pair of dark blue jeans, boxers and a light blue polo shirt. After giving them a shake, he quickly shoved them on, ran the towel over his hair-glanced at a brush but then shook his head.

Before leaving the room he look for his nine mill and frowned that it wasn't in its usual spot. 'What the hell is going on?'

"Touch the sling and you're going back to the infirmary and missing the party." Carson whispered to Kimberley, who dropped her right arm.

"Who, me?" Kimberley blinked and grinned falsely.

Carson smiled and kissed Kimberley on the check. "Its a lovely party hen, John will love it."

"Ehhheheh." Kimberley giggled. "John, yup, sure he will!"

"Does John know about the party?" Carson frowned.

"When you say 'know'..." Kimberley trailed off, eyes darting towards the gate room doors.

Closing his eyes, Carson sighed, moving his hand from her shoulder to her neck. "Nice knowing you hen."

Biting her lip, she looked up at him. "You think he'll kill me too?"

John entered the gate room and frowned as he noticed everyone was gathered together. He glanced around them smiled as he noticed Teyla mingling. "Teyla, what's going on?"

Everyone seemed to freeze, before they all yell out a hasty 'surprise!' and music began to fill their air.

"Happy birthday John." Teyla smiled to him, moving to one side as the lights began to darken.

A familiar tune started up and John groaned. 'Boyce!'

"Happy birthday dear John and Carson-" Kimberley ducked as everyone finished.

"What?" Carson demanded, turning to his girlfriend.

"Ehh, surprise?" She grinned, backing away into a wall.

Slowly the wall moved her forward.

"This is where I run!" Kimberley hissed at it.

Ronon chuckled. "Face the music Kimberley."

With a pout on her face she turned to look at Carson, who was standing with his hands on his hips. "Heh, hi?"

"Did you get yourself shot so you could fix all this up?" Carson asked.

Kimberley smiled. "Actually, no."

"Well that's a relief." He nodded, then glared. "Ah told ju ah dinnae want anyfin dun fer ma burthday!"

"But you jist turned fourtey fwee!" Kimberley returned.

"Aye, and I'm not gettin any maer accomplished!" Carson shot back.

"Disnae matter, you're ma boyfriend, and its yer b-day, its bein' celebrated!" Kimberley put her hands on her hips and glared.

"Any clue what they're saying?" Ronon whispered to Dara, who had just joined the party.

"Uh, no. Never do." Dara shook her head, then glanced at Kimberley's bullet wound, frowned, then noticed something more important. "Cake!"

Kimberley walked back to her own room, telling Carson she wanted to sleep with the support of her teddybears and not disturb him with her medical induced sleep talking.

Carson had frowned but allowed it, looking to Ronon to keep an eye on her untill she got to her room.

John placed the whiskey that he was drinking down and followed after Kimberley. After having a word with Ronon he followed her for a bit, frowning as she didn't head towards her room with Carson, but towards the common room of her and Daras old rooms.

"Boyce!" John shouted out, causing the woman to look up, wiping at her tears.

"Y-yeah?" She asked, clearly uncomfortable in the hallway with him.

John paused once he was near enough, not sure on what to say.

Kimberley glanced around the hall, eyes sneaking back at him, hoping to see what he was up to.

John cleared his throat. "Thanks Boy-Kimberley. Thank you."

"You're welcome, but Scott did all the cooking." Kimberley shook her head.

"That's good to know." John replied instantly, then clenched a fist. "I mean, back at P3X-981. If you hadn't have found out about the hybrids,

"Just, next time, yell duck." John nodded his head once. "Don't take a bullet for me."

"O-okay." Kimberley nodded.

"We all need someone to protect us from Dara." John smiled.

Slowly Kimberley smiled back at him.

"Oh hey, you know how to golf?" John asked.

Kimberley nodded. "Not very well, but I can usually hit even."

John grinned. "Wanna head to the range?"

Kimberley smiled, then her shoulder gave a twinge of pain.

"When your arms better." John nodded, a smile on his face.

"I'd love to." Kimberley ducked her head, silently wondering how long the offer would stand.

"Well, the offers good for a year, or the next Hive Attack." John cut into her thoughts, nodded once more, then began to walk away.

"Hey Col-John?" Kimberley paused, waiting till he turned around before smiling brightly and finished. "Happy forty fifth birthday!"


	55. Calendar Suprise!

Happy birthday David N!

The sun began to rise on the mainland, alerting everyone to the fact a new day had dawned.

Slowly the creatures of the forest stirred, the birds singing as others woke to their calls.

On one side of a large forest of trees, the athosian elders began their day. On the other side, the group from Atlantis (scientists, their guards and one of the alternate reality females) slept peacefully.

Well, almost.

Radek Zelenka woke with a start, blurrily looking around as his hands reached for his glasses. After finding them he places them on his face, blinking as everything comes into almost clear vision.

"Morning Radek!" Kimberley calls out from beside him.

"Gyah!" Radek cried, jumping inside his sleeping bag and falling over, muttering angrily in Czech. "kdybych vám řekl, když jsem vám řekl milionkrát nedělejte to! Stupid skotská žena!"

Slowly Kimberley thought about what he said, then glared. "Well then, I guess I won't tell you why I got you up at the crack of dawn for."

"I am sorry." Radek apologised and accepted her help to right him. "Why have you gotten me up at...such an ungodly hour?"

Kimberley grinned.

'Oh boy.' Radek panicked.

After getting ready Radek allowed Kimberley to blindfold him and guide him from the tent.

The sounds from outside were loud against his ears, until they almost stopped completely. "Uh, Kimberley, where are we going?"

Kimberley giggled and he felt his heart quicken.

"Kimberley!"

Zzzzzzap.

"And they still haven't found him?" Woolsey frowned into his comm link.

"No sir." Lornes voice was oddly concerned. "We've searched the sorunding areas, there is a jumper in the air tracking for unusual heat signals."

Inside the command centre of Atlantis, Woolsey frowned deeper, then a light seemed to go off in his head. "Has anyone seen Miss Boyce?"

Back on the mainland Lorne turned to Dara. "Where is Kimberley?"

Dara glanced around the area, eyes trailing over the tent that everyone knew was Kimberley's, to the indent on the ground that wasn't from their puddle jumper. Holding back a groan she turned and looked at Lorne. "Can you get John to check the jumper bays for Kimberley's jumper?"

Radek woke with a start, pulling against his constraints. "Kimberley?"

With no answer, and only a humming noise, he turned his head (and thanked the stars that his glasses were still on his face) to look at his captor. "Kimberley, where are we going?"

Kimberley turned with a start, glancing around the voice. "Uh, hey Radek! What's up?"

"Why am I tied up?" Radek asked.

"Oh that! It's your seat belt silly." Kimberley rolled her eyes and let go of the controls, standing up as Radek freaked out.

"Steer the ship!" he shouted, closing his eyes to not see his demise so quickly.

"Oh relax!" Kimberley rolled her eyes and crossed to the back of the jumper, unbuckling the seat belts. "We're in my jumper."

"Where are we going?" Radek asked, shooting out of the seat to look at the HUD.

"Did you know DHL don't deliver in the Pegasus Galaxy?" Kimberley smiled.

"Huh?" Radek blinked, looking puzzled as they went through a Stargate. "Is that-?"

Kimberley grinned. "Yup!"

Dara opened the back hatch of her jumper, waiting (impatiently) for FART 1 and 2. Finally, after an agonising wait, they appeared through the bay doors. "Finally! Who knows what trouble they could be in!"

"I do not think Doctor Zelenka would allow himself to get into too much issues." Teyla smiled at Dara, trying to placate her.

Dara glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "He's with Kimberley. Need I say more?"

"No, and can we get this show on the road?" Rodney demanded. "I have important things to get back to rather than scouting the galaxy for your kidnapper friend!"

"Shoulda just put the tracker on her like I told you." Ronon muttered to John, who frowned.

"Yeah, yeah- hignsight and all that." John muttered. "Just get in the jumper."

"Col Sheppard." Woolsey spoke into their headphones. "We have just erected a very large ship heading towards Atlantis at a great speed. I need your team, team two and Moss Baldwin to return to the communications room immediately."

John looked torn. "Mister Woolsey-"

"That was an order Col Sheppard." Woolsey frowned down the line.

With one last glance at the jumper, freedom, and the opportunity to chew a certain brunette a new one, John sighed and turned around. "We'll be there right away."

In the control room Chuck read and reread the information on screen.

"It's roughly the size of a hive ship, but the shape is different."

"Do we have an estimation of their arrival?" Woolsey demanded.

Chuck shook his head. "Their speed seems to be increasing. A minute ago I would have said two hours, but now it seems like half an hour."

Woolsey frowned. "What on Earth is making them go so fast?"

John and Dara, leading the rest of the two groups, exited the transporter in a run. Dara spoke first. "What do we have?"

"Very large craft, coming at us fast." Chuck replied instantly.

"Anyone know who they are, what they have and any weak spots?" John added.

"They just increased their speed!" Chuck exclaimed, causing everyone to start panicking.

"Get the shield up, Col; head to the chair, I think we have a few drones left and-" Woolsey paused as the screen behind them changed from the usually scrolling data to an Asguard in full battle armour staring at them.

"Greetings Tauri of Atlantis." the Asguard nodded. "We are returning your two crew members with the gifts that had been requested in exchange for the deep silence."

"The what?" Dara raised an eye brow.

"Excuse me for being out of the loop, but, who do you have, what gifts, and whose silence?" Woolsey asked.

The Asguard moved as to respond but was shoved gently out of the way. Kimberley grinned back at them. "Hey guys!"

"Boyce!" A few growled out.

Woolsey rubbed his eyes, then pinched his nose. "Where in Earth have you been?"

"At the Pegasus galaxy's Asguard home world." She replied instantly, her arm moving to grab someone into the screen.

Zelenka blinked back at them, his arms clutching several dozen crystals containing schematics, ideas, reversed engineered weapons and other amazing ideas.

"Doc? You okay?" John asked hesitantly.

Kimberley turned to one of the Asguard and hugged him tightly as she spoke in Ancient, slightly halting but still fast pace.

Zelenka let out a slow breath. "Nejlepší dárek k narozeninám kdy

."


	56. Pi Day

In a darkened room within Atlantis, the earpiece of Dara Baldwin that lay on the table beside her came to life. "Miss Baldwin report to the mess hall please."

Dara picked her head up from where she was napping and glanced at her clock. 'Did I miss two meals again?'

Sitting up she rubbed her eyes before running her hands over her hair. A quick glance at the TV showed it was okay, so she straightened her clothes, stood up and stretched. Her feet slowly made their way into her shoes and she left the room, turning her earpiece on and attached it to her ear. "Dara here, what's up?"

"Uh, Rotella asked if you could help him with something." Chuck began slowly.

'YES! I can play in the kitchen! Yes!' "I'm on my way." Dara replied calmly, a grin threatening to split her face as she entered the nearest transporter.  
o0o  
John paused as the transporter doors hissed open, trying not to crash into the person on the other side.

Dara and John collided, hitting the ground at the same time. "Damn it!"

"Hey you okay?" John asked her, quickly getting up and holding his hand out to her.

Dara glanced at him before taking the hand, allowing him to help guide her up. Quickly she brushed her clothes and nodded to him. "Yeah, you?"

John nodded. "Where you headed to?"

"Mess hall." She replied, already heading towards the aforementioned room.

"Why are you going there?" John tagged along.

"Got paged." She shrugged.

John sighed. "I hope you don't think Rotella is going to let you into the kitchen-"

Dara stopped walking and whirled around, poking a finger into his chest. "He won't if YOU are anywhere near!"

"Ow!" John moaned, rubbing his chest.

Raising an eyebrow Dara waited for him to say something else. When he didn't she smiled at him and nodded her head, turning on the spot to begin walking once more to the food hall.  
o0o  
Rotella stood at the entrance between the kitchen and the mess hall, his porters stationed throughout the room. Glancing around he noted everything was in place. All necessary equipment was either out of energy, stored, or hidden in his office (pretty much just his new stash of saffron).

"She's here!" His first in command porter John called out, followed by a whack and an 'ow'.

'Why isn't she getting anger management classes?' Rotella asked himself, then threw the thought from his mind; Baxter had more on his plate to deal with without adding the insane ones friend to the list. "Miss Baldwin, thank you for coming."

"Hey Rotella, what's up?" Dara tried to hide her enthusiasm.

"Your friend is in my kitchen." Rotella swept his hand to point behind him. "And she refuses to leave."

"That's what I got called for?" Dara raised an eyebrow. "Why not call Carson and let them make a date out of it."

"He's in surgery." Rotella replied. "Gordon tripped down the gate steps and broke his arm in three places."

"How did that guy even get through the gate?" Dara wondered aloud.

"With a lot of clout from upstairs." Rotella guessed. "And if we had him, then they didn't have to deal with him."

"True, but what did we ever do to deserve him?" Kitchen John added from behind Dara.

Dara spun quickly to look at who was talking. Taking in the rough short beard, slightly plump stomach and kind eyes, she knew who he was. "John Malone?"

"Yup, that's me." John grinned, sticking his hand out for Dara to shake.

"Kimberley talks about you some times." Dara explained, shaking his hand with a smile. "Did you really hide the jello in one of the EMP containers?"

John blushed and Dara shook her head.

"Ahem." Rotella fake coughed into his hand.

"You otta see about that cough boss man." Davey mentioned as he passed him.

Rotella glared at the skinhead as he quickly scampered deeper into the kitchen. He turned his attention to Dara and lowered his glare level as she gave him one back. "Get her out of my kitchen, or at least teach her how to cook something, that should placate her."

Dara looked at him blankly, then spoke slowly. "Teach her? To cook? In your kitchen?"

Rotella nodded. "Without burning down my kitchen and Atlantis while you are at it."

"I don't think she could burn down Atlantis." Dara smirked.

"You remember how the R and D department needed to test if their suits were making for team 5?" Rotella began.

"Yeah, the ones that needed to be tested in various different environments." Dara nodded.

"Kimberley helped test to see if they worked against high flames and toxic fumes." Rotella continued. "While she was cooking rice."

"Wait, what? Rice?" Dara frowned.

Rotella pulled a face and nodded.

"Am I getting hazard pay?" She asked.

Rotella gave her another face.

"Can I cook with some saffron?" Hands clasped in front of her Dara tried to look endearing.

Rotella took a step back. "Sure, just-quit that face before anyone comes in."

Shooting him a confused look Dara turned to walk towards the large kitchen island, snagging a (freshly laundered) female chefs coat from the rack. Looking around she noted her friend had put all of the items out for making a bog standard apple pie. Daras eyes widened at the small glass tube containing saffron. Her fingers reached towards it and she picked it up, bring it close to her nose. After popping off the lid she took a small smell and grinned.

"Hey Dara."

"YAH!" Dara threw her hands together and panicked that she had spilled the precious cooking ingredient. "Don't. Do. That!"

"Sorry." Kimberley apologised, looking down. After a minute of silence she looked up and grinned at Dara. "Are you going to teach me?"

Dara was too stunned at Kimberley's outfit. A shapeless white tunic fell around her, and a bright white pair of trousers confined her legs. White clunky shoes with scuff marks on the toes adorned her feet and her long hair was kept back by a white see through hair net. "Uh, sure."

"Yay!" Kimberley pressed a hand to her ear. "Kay Chuck, keep everyone out of the mess hall for a few hours!"

'Oh God what have I gotten myself in for.' Dara groaned to herself as the girls moved to wash their hands. "Why do you want to make a cake?"

"Not a cake, a pie!" Kimberley grinned manically.

"Okay, why a pie?" Dara changed it, giving her friend her 'you know what I meant!' face.

"Its Pie day. The fourteenth of March?" Kimberley questioned. "What do you DO in that office of yours, work? Do you ever read the memos? The emails?"

"Uh, sure I do, but only the important ones." Dara replied hesitantly.

Kimberley finished washing her hands and turned to dry them. "Since its 3.14, every department is to make a desert and share it with another department."

"You are weird, you do realise that?" Dara raised an eyebrow.

Kimberley shrugged. "So what's first?"  
o0o  
Hours later Dara carefully took two pies from the oven. One was one that she had made; the other was made by Kimberley with her guidance.

The left pie was golden brown, a little leaf design on the top, crows feet along the crust. Bramley's apples filled the inside, while cinnamon was lazily but liberally applied on the top.

The right pie was slightly scorched along the crust and the bottom. The top had caved, with some of the apple showing to be more mushy in consistency. The mathematical sign of Pi looked like a mini house and while adding cinnamon to the top, the lid had came off and covered the whole thing.

Dara looked at the two pies and frowned. 'They were in the same oven, at the same time, for the same period. WHY is one burnt?'

Kimberley bit her lip and shrugged. "How does it taste?"

Dara looked around in alarm. "Uh, I just had lunch."

"You've been with me all day..." Kimberley trailed off.

"You eat it!" Dara snapped.

"I don't like pie!" Kimberley returned.

"Hmm...JOHN!" Dara yelled.

John, the kitchen porter, hurried in, one hand covering his face. "How bad is it? How much blood?"

"No blood, do you want to taste the pies?" Dara asked.

John grew pale. "Uh, nooooo, that's okay I um, actually am allergic to um the um, er, filling, yeah the filling!"

Dara raised an eye brow.

Kimberley sighed. "I'll just walk about with it, I'm sure SOMEONE will want a bit."

"Kimberley-" Dara stopped as Kimberley moved to pick up the recently out of the oven pie and jumped back as she yelped, releasing the pie back onto the counter.

"HOT!" Kimberley whimpered.

Rolling her eyes Dara sighed and moved her friends hand to the tap, turning the cold water on. "Just out of the oven, of course its hot!"  
o0o  
Half an hour later Kimberley had transferred the pie to a glass container. After scoring some points from Rotella for leaving the kitchen cleaner than she got it, he let her take the container, pie and some cutlery out of the kitchen.

After walking the long way round she stopped in front of Carsons office in the infirmary and used her elbow to knock on the door frame. "Hey Carson."

"Kimberley!" Carson grinned, dropping the paperwork he was working on onto the bench. "How are you-what's at?"

"Pie! I made it." Moving over to his desk she placed it down on an empty spot and turned to him, kissing him on the cheek. "Happy Pi day."

"Happy Pie day luv." Carson chuckled and captured her lips. "So what brings you down here?"

"Do you want to try my pie?" She asked.

"Wha-what?" Carson coughed.

"Dara helped me make it, so it shouldn't give anyone food poisoning." Kimberley looked hopeful. "Please?"

"Oh I would hen but, I can't afford to get ill the now." Carson shook his head, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You know your food is best suited for Ronon."

Humiliation flashed through her and she nodded. "F-fine."

Carson sighed. "Kimberley-"

"See you later." She snapped, grabbing the pie and began moving out of the room, changing direction to miss Carsons embracing arms. "Don't!"

"Kimburley-"

"No! Don't try and talk cute." Kimberley glared at him, brushing past him, storming out of the room.

Carson watched her leave and didn't know if he should count himself lucky for dodging the bullet or worried in case she really was upset.  
o0o  
After leaving the infirmary Kimberley stormed and stomped her way around the base, grumbling to herself as she thought about Carsons reaction.

Eventually she realised he was right. With a sigh she wondered if she should head to the infirmary and apologise, or try and find Ronon. 'This pie IS heavy...'

Shifting the pie around Kimberley pressed her earpiece. "Hey Chuck, where's Ronon at?"

"Cells with Todd." Chuck replied after searching. "How'd the pie turn out?"

"Didn't burn the place down." Kimberley mused.

"Always a plus." He chuckled.

"But no one wants a slice." Kimberley pouted.

"I'll take a slice." Chuck offered.

"Really?" She looked up, eyes bright.

"Yeah, but ask Ronon first, you know he's up to try anything." Chuck confirmed.

"Kay, the main holding cells or is he in the one on the north pier?" Kimberley asked, pausing to stand in front of a transporter.

"North pier-how did you-" Chuck paused. "Did you just use a transporter?"

"This pie is heavy!" She defended, eyes squeezed tight.

"Okay, okay." He chuckled again. "I'll end the channel, but let me know when your heading back up so I can get some crème."

"Kay!" Kimberley smiled, her day staring to look up.  
o0o  
Ronon and Todd tilted their heads as they heard footsteps coming towards their highly secured and heavily restricted area.

Stealthily Ronon took his gun out from its holster, checked it was on stun (unfortunately) and aimed it low.

"Hey Ronon!" Kimberley announced before stepping around the corner.

"Hey. That pie?" Ronon asked, holstering his gun to point with his hands.

"Yup, I made it earlier under Daras supervision, wanna try it?" She smiled.

Ronons stomach did a drop. "No thanks, I just came from lunch. First one since the re-supply from the Deadalus."

"Oh. Okay." She nodded, trying not to look to despondent.

Todd observed the female as she walked closer to him, typing in a code to de-power the cells shield.

"Todd?" He refused to look at her. She lifted her arms a little and offered the now cold desert to him. "Would you like a piece of pie that I made?"

Slowly Todd turned to look at her and raised his lips to smirk menacingly. "I have listen to those around me when I have been on Atlantis. I know that to eat something that you created for 'consumption' would be more foolish than walking into power expulsion of the gate."

Shock and rage filled Kimberley. Her face turned red and Todd turned to look at her fully. "What the heck is your mother fudging problem you jack ass? What the hell makes you think you can just talk to someone like that? I'm here, offering you something to eat that EVERYONE KNOWS WILL SUSTAIN YOU, because Wraith CAN consume food!"

Ronon grabs Kimberley around her arms and tries to haul her from the room, struggling before getting her out of there.

"UGH!" Kimberley groaned, whirling away from him and towards a transporter.

Blinking Ronon looked at Todd.

Todd frowned. "I thought that she did not use transporters?"

Ronon nodded.  
o0o  
The transporter doors swished open and John (Sheppard) paused, not wanting a repeat from the morning.

Kimberley stormed from the technological device, gaining more than a few looks. She stomped over to the desk that Chuck normally used. "Ware is Chuck?"

"Coffee break." Amelia blinked. 'Did she just-'

"Wen wull he bee bak?" Kimberley spoke through gritted teeth.

"Ten minutes or so." She responded, looking around the room for someone to help her.

Kimberley realised how much crazier than normal she must have been and took a breath, closing her eyes and tried to calm down.

"KIMBEWEY!" A small young voice called from behind Kimberley.

Barely having enough time to put the pie down Kimberley threw her hands out, grabbing Torren as he ploughed into her legs. "Whoa there little guy. Where's the fire?"

"Lab 10." A random scientist replied.

Kimberley rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean literally!"

"We missed you!" Torren told her excitedly.

"I missed you too." She bent down and pressed her forehead to his, then stood up and looked around for his parents.

"Ahh Miss Boyce, you saved me the trouble of having to find you." Woolsey spoke from behind her.

Kimberley whirled around, young Torren being pulled beside her. "Huh?"

"I wanted to ask you to tell Chef Rotella that I wanted to sample the new deserts menu." Woolsey told her as he picked up a section of the pie with his own fork; the piece quickly going to his mouth. "You're timing is quiet impeccable...does this taste strange to anyone-"  
o0o  
Wearily Richard raised a hand to his head, frowning at the pull on his arm. Taking a breath he winced and held his stomach: his head protesting at the movement.

A bed pan was placed in front of his face and he clutched at it for dear life.

"Did you have to give him anything?" Dara asked as he blearily looked around, absentmindedly handing the leader his glasses.

"Aye, I've had to give him a few liquidised stomach pills straight to his gut." Carson nodded to Dara, then looked at Woolsey. "Hiv ye been eating anything ye shouldn't hiv?"


	57. The End

**A/N:** SerenBunny here. Due to a lack of communication I've decided to put Run Ins to bed. There WAS another 30 odd chapters to this, a lot of them written, but thanks to LadyDarkHope (and yes, I am placing blame) these chapters will never see the light of day. I hope you are happy.

* * *

Chuck accepted the radio frequency that came from the girls gate, frowning as he listened to it.

Sam entered the control room to see what the mission said. When she stopped beside Chuck she frowned at his pale look. "Everything okay Chuck?"

"The message is for Kimberley- there's something wrong with her mother." Chuck replied, handing the leader the headphones and watching her face go from confusion to horror. "I've already paged her, she should be here soon."

"Page her again, tell her to use the transporters." Sam replied, then looked to the ground in sadness.

"Will you be the one to tell her, or just let her listen to the data burst?" Chuck asked, already pulling it onto a data pad.

"I'll tell her. Its better she hear it from a friendly face than from a computer." Sam nodded, taking the computer with a small, sad smile of understanding on her face. "When she comes in, direct her to my office please."

Chuck nodded and waited a few minutes for the alternate girl to come running down the corridor.

"Whats this about my mom?" Kimberley demanded, fear in her eyes. 'We may not be talking but, oh God, if somethings happened to her!'

"Col. Carter will tell you in her office." Chuck nodded to her sadly and watched as she barreled into the room, not pausing the knock as she entered and made a bee line stright for their commanding officer.

He watched as Sam asked her to sit down, then passed her the data pad and explained the bad news as the recording from Catherine played at the same time.

Dara walked passed Chuck and glanced in the room, pausing as Kimberleys face lost all colour and she wavered on the spot, before tears burst through and she began sobbing in ernest. "Whats up with her? Her dog die?"

"No, her mom had a major seizure." Chuck explained as Sam hugged the female. "She can't remember anything from before the age of 21."

"Why 21?" Dara was confused.

"I think that was the first time she had an epileptic seizure." Chuck returned.

"So what does that mean for Kimberley? How did Catherine get to know this?" Dara was still confused. 'How the hell did her family get a hold of Catherine?'

"They went through her old computer and got your number from that, called your parents, who gave them Catherine and Lens, and then the rest you know." Chuck explained the link. "The message has her dad asking her to come home for a little while, to see if it may jog some memories."

Shivering Dara nodded, knowing that her friend was going to be freaked out over seeing her mother like that but knew that she would do anything to help. "I'll go prepare our jumper."

"Pack a bunch of outfits for Kimberley, please." Chuck asked, looking at the female who was nodding to Sam. "I think we both know how much of her clothes she left back home."

Dara nodded once more before heading for a transporter and readied a bag.  
o0o  
"So when are you coming back?" Jennifer asked Kimberley through the open connection between the stargates a week later.

There was a silence down the line and a few of them turned to each other, thinking that they had lost the connection.

"Kimberley?" John asked.

They could hear her take a breath. "I'm not. Coming back that is. I can't leave my dad, and the rest of my family to deal with this-"

"Thats okay, we'll give you a few months." Sam agreed.

There was a rustling sound like she was shaking bits of paper, like she had written down what she was going to say. "It'll take more than a few months, theres a lot to sort out and, look, its for the best, alright?"

Dara stared at the screen. "You are not leaving me here, alone, with the Wraith and Sheppard."

"Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah I am." Kimberley replied clippily. "I can't come back just now, and I'm not sure I can come back in six months or a year."

Daras brain digested this and she nodded. "I'll send reports to Catherine and Len. Any deaths will be your fault."

Baxter looked at her oddly.

"I won't be recieving any messages. I'm going to grow up. This will be the last of Atlantis I will see." Kimberleys voice wavered but she continued talking. "Karma has come back to bite me in my ass so hard. But I'll take it like a woman. Its been an awesome six years guys, but, bye."

The group looked to one another, then to Dara, who looked seriously pissed off. "I'll be in the training rooms."

The group looked to them selves, then began to disperse, John thinking of how much quiter the base was going to be. Teyla thought that she had just lost a great baby sitter. Ronon was miffed that now he had to train all the newbies by himself.

"I hope she'll be okay." Jennifer replied as Rodney stopped beside her.

"Kimberley? She should bounce back fine." Rodney nodded.

"I mean Dara. Its all well and good her being here with everyone, but she'll be even more alien than Ronon and Teyla." Jennifer explained.

"Well we won't let her feel that way. And the last time I checked, there were the same amount of differences between Teyla, Ronon and Daras DNA, so she's still one of us." Rodney replied.

Jennifer smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "You're so sweet Rodney."

"Eh, well I, that is-oh for crying out loud!" He yelled as Zelenka went past, covered in soot. "What the hell did you do now you pea brain!?"


End file.
